Possibly the worst Council meeting yet
May 20, 2009I’ve just come back from a meeting of Full Council and return feeling completely deflated.
I guess I thought i’d return full of enthusiam as tonight is the night Council appointed me as Cabinet Member for Children’s Services. What a fantastic opportunity – both for me and for all young people and children in the Borough!
This was a massive portfolio so the Leader has decided to take Building Schools for the Future out of the portfolio and into the hands of Regeneration. The Leader has also decided that he will personally deal with the issues around Sneyd School, because it is such an important issue. As such therefore this issue is largely in the hands of the Leader. This then gives me time to learn about Children’s Services – education, child care, adoption, contract management, youth services… the list goes on! Hopefully when I get to grips with it I can begin to have a positive impact.
As the saying goes “you can’t eat an elephant in one sitting” so i’ll be doing what I can to learn about the portfolio section by section over the next few weeks and months. I’ll post more about this position and my hopes another time and focus back on the Council meeting.
What I witnessed today was nothing less than shameful. Councillors shouted down councillors, councillors spoke and others heckled so loud they couldn’t be heard, councillors picked arguments with the Mayor, the public gallery booed councillors as they voted name by name and tried to shout down speakers. Councillors of all parties joined in. One councillor who made his maiden speech was heckled and jeered – even in the Commons people get a chance with their maiden speech. I just didn’t get it. It didn’t achieve anything.
I sat there and genuinely wondered why i’d become a councillor. We’re all supposed to be “corporate parents”, community leaders and role models and yet the behaviour from many people was bullying and intimidating. If the people of Walsall had seen it then none of the 60 of us would be reelected. Some people must think its a bit of fun but if teachers held staff meetings like that or children behaved in a classroom like that then there would be serious consequences. Why would any person give up their evening to sit there and accept that behaviour? I just hope other Council meetings don’t head that way or I may think twice about my participation in them.
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As a total outsider to political meetings, the ones I have seen often appear like this. Not because all the attendees act like that, but because it always seems to attract some people that do. I think it goes with the territory
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Best to try to be better than that type IMO.
You’ve got the wrong leader old chap. Remember, he’s so good at it, he’s lost the job twice before.
He thrives on conflict.
Bob
Are my comments being filtered?
Nope. I don’t filter comments. Will check the auto spam thing…
Must be WordPress. It seems a bit cranky tonight.
Since working as a journalist – starting in Walsall at the Advertiser – I have always maintained that no councillor would ever get voted in if each voter had to witness a council meeting and the behaviour of councillors.
Sad to see that nothing has changed in 20 years when I first sat agog in Walsall Council meetings.
Many forget why they are there: to help those in their wards, not so they can go on some kind of power trip that boosts their ego.
It’s why so many people are totally disillusioned with local politics. While those guys are squabbling like children, real people have to live with their decisions.
With the greatest respect, Mike, sometimes I think you’re a bit too nice for this stuff…
Bob
Tried to warn you about the leader you were so triumphant about. You got the wrong man. Seems you may understand that a bit more now but a general rule is a leopard does NOT change its spots. Two choices now, dig in an take the c**p until you can get what you want or at least a chance for a vote of no confidence in him or make a stand and resign now and dump the no hopers!!
Best wishes and good luck!!
Mike
[...] 21, 2009 by BrownhillsBob Just a quick post. From a new entry on his blog tonight, Councillor Mike Flower seems to have had quite an unpleasant council meeting this evening. Councillor Ian Shires also comments on it in his blog – it looks like the change in leadership has [...]
I was hoping to attend the Council meeting briefly before I went onto my night shift but I was turned away because the public gallery was full. It seems I missed quite a spectacle.
I do sympathise with your heartfelt blog entry. I appreciate there are some good Councillors like yourself in Walsall who are genuinely committed to serving the interests of local people but the majority seem to be self-serving egotists.
If the public gallery is so small and it can’t accommodate people who want to see what the Council is discussing then why can’t Council meetings be video recorded so we can see the appalling state of local ‘democracy’ in action? Perhaps then we will get a better caliber of Councillor elected in the future instead of the Neanderthals that seem to get re-elected again and again.
We need a shake up of local politics like what we are seeing at a national level.
I feel frustrated that our concerns about the future of education at Sneyd (and other issues) are not being taken seriously by our elected representatives.
Good luck with your new position but I’m afraid I don’t have much confidence in the system you are part of.
Regards
James
Sorry to hear of this. It is my council tax that is paying for the panto and I am afraid that it may get worse. I urge you to look very closely at the Chuckery Youth Club plan – your employees want to spend £600,000 of my money on a youth centre when they have consulted less than 30 young people!
A few thoughts, hopefully in a constructive vein.
1. Stop calling councillors ‘members’. It makes it sound as if the council chamber belongs to those in it where as it belongs to the rest of us. Councillors are only stewards for the time that the electors want them.
2. Call council officers employees, for that is what they are.
3. Look at making the place non-party political. When I worked in Wales most of the independants were actually tories but at least there was an attempt. It failed because other parties insisted on being parties and played their games.
4. Why not look at being independant yourself? After all, people voted for you – not the leadership/cabinet in place now even if they did vote for the party then. Politics takes people of courage to be in it. Winston Churchill did it and no one complains about him.
The big problem with last nights meeting, when combined with the Westminster fiasco is that voters in the coming election will be even more apathetic. I don’t want a BNP racist MEP and I can’t see the point of a UKIP MEP who does not want to be there (but still claims the expenses). I don’t think that was the intention last night but actions have consequences. If my fears are realised you are all tarred with the same brush. Sorry, because as others have said you seem a very decent chap.
We can understand your frustration, like you we have been waiting many months to see some positive action and yet again we were disappointed. Without wishing to appear patronising, your comments seem quite naive and idealistic. When the lives and education of children is being discussed, you must understand it is a very emotive issue. We feel that nobody is actually listening to us and our concerns, we are simply being paid lip service. We came to the meeting full of hope, hoping that fresh blood might make a difference – our hopes were very quickly shattered.
The people of Bloxwich West and Willenhall North will simply not roll over when it comes to destroying a community and the education of our kids. We do not feel that we should pick up the tab for the rest of Walsall so BSF funding should be secured. Where are the 450 kids from the 3000 strong new housing development in Willenhall going to be educated? Where are our kids going to go? PLEASE stop messing with lives and playing games with our kids’ future. We will not back down, we will just keep coming back and we will go higher and higher until we are listened to.
We REALLY want to work with you, not against you. We will throw our support behind ANYONE, from ANY party who will support us in keeping 11-19 education in Bloxwich West. This is not party political as it was stated last night – this is about kids not politics. We would welcome any support you can give us. (savesneydschool@yahoo.com) We await you response eagerly.
I am afraid that you sound rather naive. What happened last night was typical of politics – where self-interest and party loyalty are more important that representing the public. If you did not realise it would be like this – why are you holding such an important brief?
What we witnessed last night was nothing less than a total disregard for democracy from the Conservative group of which you are a part. How can anyone say they can have respect for an organisation which presents parents with a consultation where ALL THREE choices lead to closure? How is this democratic? How can we have confidence in a procedure which TOTALLY DENIES the community any opinion whatsoever? How can we respect any group which “permits” its members living in the local area to abstain rather than support their local people and vote for an amendment which would lead to the formulation of a coherent strategy? You have no idea of how sickening the whole spectacle was.
If you entered politics to make a difference – then make one. Sort out this mess and make sure that the people of North West Walsall have a say in the future of Sneyd School and draw up a coherent Borough-wide strategy instead of this mess. Listen to the people instead of to your party leaders – who most certainly did not cover themselves in glory last night.
To be honest, the reasons for the upraw on wednesday was because of a conflict of interest. As a school i think everyones emotions are involved and if it has to be like that it will because we will remain fighting for a 11-19 provision on sneyd site as it is a damn good school and if you could show your support the better it will be. but i assure you we are not backing down on this fight.
I have attended Sneyd school for the last 6 years and I would just like to say that i attended that meeting last night and i hope you can appriciate how strong we feel about our school!!! You say that is was one of the worst meetings ever but i ams orry there are going to be a lot like this as you have not heard the last of us!!! We came to that meeting waiting to see what you was like and hoping that you would support us, but obviosly you are not!!! I am very dissapointed, but the community of Sneyd School is that strong, we are not going to stop fighting to Save our school and for what is right!!! I would really hope that one day you can come and see the children who’s educatin is being took of them,and see the amount of hard work being put into saving our school!!! This school might have falling numbers and what ever else they want to shut us down for but please but this does not mean that the children remaining in the school and children that want to come to this school in the future will not be able to!!! But as i say the fight is not over yet and if the Sneyd Community stays as strong as it has been then there is hope!!!
Whilst last night’s council meeting was excellent political panto, both cheaper and more entertaining than the pub, I fear that Walsall residents will continue to be short changed by the council which is supposed to represent them.
The behaviour of representatives from Sneyd School did fall short of the standards we would all hope for. This was, however, entirely predictable – campaigners for Sneyd have been disenfrachised and last night it was clear that the conservative majority on the council have no intention of supporting them. The outcome of the ‘debate’ was decided well before yesterday evening and the same conclusion would have been reached whether the people from Sneyd sat quietly or made their views known. It is difficult to show respect to a process which is so disrespectful of the views of the people it is representing.
Amongst all the shouting and political points scoring there were actually a few very significant points which slipped through almost unnoticed.
Firstly the council delegated the appointment of LEA governors to the Executive Director of Children Services. This is the removal of another democratic process and concentrates more power in fewer hands.
Secondly responsibility for ‘Building Schools for the Future’ and for dealing with the Sneyd campaigners was removed from the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services by new council leader Cllr. Bird. As baby faced Cllr. Flower smiled at the news of his shrinking portfolio I felt a moment of sadness for the Sneyd campaigners. On last night’s performance it was clear that Sneyd will need to look elsewhere for support.
The debate in to secondary education in Walsall was sadly devoid of any facts or substance. There were shouts from the gallery asking why the council has signed a 12 year contract with Serco for the provision of education services but this was not taken up by any of the cllrs. If Walsall is to have an overall strategy for secondary education in the borough then it is vital that the role of Serco is debated in council. Do the citizens of Walsall want an education system run for the benefit of their children or for profit? Are the two mutually exclusive?
To start a debate here are some statistics on Walsall’s secondary schools: -
Walsall was the 22nd most improved authority for GCSE results in 2008.
Walsall was the 8th worst authority for value added GCSE results in 2008.
There are 19 secondary schools in Walsall including Walsall Academy and the two grammar schools. Of the sixteen under local authority control 9 were on the DCSF national challenge (failing) list in July 2008.
An increasing number of ‘failing schools’ are being considered for academy status. All of these schools are in the less affluent wards of the borough.
It would be helpful if cllrs would debate these issues in open session. Which schools are making the largest improvements? what is the benefit of academy status to schools, pupils and the authority? in which areas of the borough are educational standards rising?
As a final note congratulations to the group from Murdock Way who managed to keep a quiet air of dignity throughout the evening. I am still trying to work out how the debate over the M6, in which all cllrs agreed that the council should throw its full weight behind the residents of Murdock Way, but disagreed about which party was the most supportive, took 40 minutes when the whole Sneyd debate was done in half an hour!
Ambrose is right about Serco. How can anonymous and unaccountable employees of a private company with a very dubious history dictate education policy?
Councillors and especially Cabinet Portfolio holders, are not generally thought of as being the brightests buttons in the box, but even they MUST realise that they are being led by the nose towards an education disaster.
Check out:
http://www.independant.co.uk/news/ulc/home-news/inside-yarls-wood-britains-shame-over-child-detainees
Guess who is in charge of locking up the innocent children of victims of torture and rape?
[...] the infamous, intemperate, fractious full council meeting that Mike ‘Burger Boy’ Flower blogged about so eloquently, councillor blogs and Walsall’s social media have been alive with discussion about the first [...]
Why not just change the English department rather than close the entire school? Spelling and grammar do not seem to be strong in the postings regarding the campaign.
Massive big up to the sister who wants to close the English Department cos of da bad spellin and ting. Trust me, that`s like well safe innit?
Me and my posse are looking forward to getting a job in one of the well wicked engineering factories that are gonna be opening up all over the place.
Nuff respeck.
LOL – The Plastic Hippo – LOL
Fancy a job on the Yamyam Plastic Hippo? We’re looking for a proof reader!
Editor
Open government is a double-edged sword, as Parliament is finding out at the moment. Just as well our local MP’s are upright, honourable and conscientious fellows.
Time to declare the independence of Bloxwich, methinks. Mayhap we can move back into Staffordshire at the same time?
- The Forrener
I attended the council meeting on wednesday night with great optimism, there were rumours circulating that the newly appointed cabinet were going to be rejuvenated.
We were told by Councillor Ali that we would walk away from the meeting with hope, with a feeling that we had “made progress”. After the meeting i felt upset, angry and dissapointed.
I believe that many Conservative members of the council wanted to vote in favour of Sneyd, What i saw was in effect Lambs being lead to slaughter. Unwilling to vote against their party and their leader, surely these super-ego’s could stand up alone. When the time came to it, obviously not.
I left school on Friday after 7 years! I achieved 11 A*-C’s at GCSE level, i achieved 4 AS levels, including one A. I’m about to sit my final A-level papers in the coming weeks. I am looking forward to starting university in September along with many of my peers. I believe that my achievements are down to to the educational provision that i have been given at Sneyd.
Although i have left Sneyd now i will still do my utmost to attend any future meetings as i do not want to see the education of local children being taken away from them.
[...] on securing his cabinet against embarrassing contradictory opinions surfacing in the ether. Since Councillor Mike Flower’s shockingly honest, thoroughly brave blog post of the 20th May 2009, and the sympathetic, definitely not me-too followups by councillors Longhi and Perry, things have [...]