OPPOSITION parties at Warrington Town Hall have “called in” a decision by the Labour council’s executive board to set up a Trust to run the borough’s leisure and culture services.
This means the decision cannot be implemented until it has been reviewed by scrutiny chiefs.
The call-in was initiated by Liberal Democrat culture and leisure spokesman Cllr Kevin Reynolds (right), supported by one Conservative and four Liberal Democrat councillors.
Labour made the decision at the executive board meeting on October 17.
Cllr Reynolds said: “We have done this because we don’t think there has been proper consultation with the unions over this proposed transfer.
“It was quite clear from their reaction after the board meeting and their comments to the press afterwards that the unions are extremely unhappy with the way the Labour Group has handled the whole issue. The unions are reported as saying that, ‘to suggest consultation has taken place is a blatant disregard of the truth’.”
Cllr Reynolds, who also sits on the Council’s Joint Consultative Committee, added: “This is just another example of the inability of the new council administration to conduct business properly.
“No wonder staff morale is at such a low ebb. I am pleased that when we ran the council we treated the unions with trust and respect and we actually talked with them.”
The council must now set a date for a special meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.
Opposition put block on leisure Trust plan
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
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What comes first the chicken or the egg? And who is running the Town Hall, the councillors or the Unions?
Surely the first phase of any plan has to be agreed on the way forward, and then when that is done, you talk to all those involved.
IF the Lib-Dems and Tories were NOT involved in any of the decision making, it is right to call it in, but this smacks of the Opposition trying to make things difficult.
What? Lib Dems and Tories play politics with people’s livelihoods? Surely not. Let us not forget that it was their brilliant wheeze to put all leisure and culture services in a trust in the first place. How much consultation did they do with the unions before putting that gem forward? Er, none maybe? And what did the unions have to say about it last year as a proposal? Don’t remember hearing them coming out against it then…
If the unions weren’t so caught up in past battles, they’d see that they’re being used as pawns by the now opposition to try and paint this as a fight between Labour and the unions when workers I know just want to get on with it and hope to end up with a job rather than face their centre being sold off or shut. Perhaps Cllr Reynolds should just get his leadership bid out in the open so we can see what all this grandstanding is really for…
Cllr Reynolds said: “We have done this because we don’t think there has been proper consultation with the unions over this proposed transfer……” no mention of lack of consultation with the PUBLIC !!!! Cllr Reynolds -second quote;
“I am pleased that when we ran the council we treated the unions with trust and respect and we actually talked with them.” Does he think the public have forgotten the ‘behind closed doors’ attempts by his party to off load/ sell off Walton Hall and Gardens – during this the PUBLIC were hardly treated ‘with trust and respect’ -just secrecy and lies! As for public consultation during the Lib /Con administration that was hardly on the agenda!!!! This decision should have been called in on the grounds that there has been no public consultation – not just to promote the Lib Dem’s cosying up to the unions as a political point scoring excercise. It’s about time that our councillors of all parties realised their role as PUBLIC SERVANTS is to act upon the interests and wishes of the public they are supposed to serve , and that to enable them to fulfill their duties PUBLIC CONSULTATION is the most vital element.
It’s a Lib Dem / Tory proposal from the last administration, with a view to saving money on running the service. The time for consultation is after the decision is made to go ahead – Reynolds is a chancer who would no doubt have moaned about wasting money if the consultation had gone first and then the Council decided not to proceed. Is her up for election this year, by any chance?????
Won’t this decision be “called in” to a committee made up with a majority of Labour councillors, possibly handpicked by the Administration.
If ‘called in’ it would be scrutinised by an existing OSC committee, members of which were put together at the start of the year following this year’s election.
The Neighbourhood and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee would appear to be best suited to scrutinise this issue follow the link below for more details.
http://www.warrington.gov.uk/home/democracy_and_elections/overview_scrutiny/neighbourhood_osc/
Which comprises, 7 Labour (Labour Chairman & Deputy and including Cllr Settle) 3 L/Ds and 1 Tory
Don’t you understand that the current Administration at WBC don’t do consultation! To “call in” means that the decision is then scutinised by an independent body who have not so far taken part in the decision making process. Seeing that we are still waiting for the “Independent” scrutiny of the lost Planning Documents saga I don’t think we are going to see WBC setting up any Independent body to review this decision. The decision was made by this Labour Group behind closed doors without any public input!
Swede says “The time for consultation is after the decision is made to go ahead” and suggests money is wasted if consultation is done first. I think it would be more logical and economical to do the consultation at the proposal stage. A quick and virtually cost free online public poll on WBC’s webside – “Do you want the town’s leisure services to be privatised via the back door”? “Yes or No” I predict that the result would be a resounding “NO”!!! Making a decision, doing feasibility studies, drawing up plans negotiating with prospective buyers/contractors BEFORE consultation is in fact wasting money! How many hundreds of thousands of pounds were wasted on such during the Walton Hall fiasco? Can they not learn from experience?
It’s pretty obvious that all of the political parties are intent in selling off / offloading the town’s leisure services.The Lib / Cons initially proposed it and Labour are carrying the proposals through. Instead of spending their days political point scoring couldn’t they better utilise their time in working out ways to protect and effectively manage the town’s assets?