15 January (Part 2) - Mob rule
The system of local government in Bexley is similar to that used
nationally; a small cabal of senior politicians are appointed to a cabinet by
someone who has wormed themselves to the top of the greasy pole and the
riffraff are supposed to do what they are told and ask the occasional question.
Bexley’s cabinet is more a Mafia than a cabinet but mercifully has no Nick Clegg.
Bexley’s cabinet members, by and large, are each shadowed by an Overview and
Scrutiny Committee to make sure the cabinet member doesn’t go completely off the
rails and by that measure some are almost by definition a failure, especially
when the cabinet member and the chairman of the Scrutiny Committee are married
or civil partners. Potential for corruption in Bexley? No, never!
Not all Bexley councillors regard looking after number one as their priority, I
can even think of one cabinet member who shows no sign of being a wrong ’un.
There used to be more but they got kicked out, I wonder why.
Overall there are quite a lot of Scrutiny Committee members who take their
jobs seriously and yesterday evening there was a meeting that may have shown
that they are not all in awe of the Mafia boss.
There has been a
Review of Overview and Scrutiny Committees and councillors had the opportunity to have their say. 64% of ordinary councillors don’t
think the Committees are “effective” at “holding the cabinet to account”.
74% said that there was no effective follow up on completed work. 67% said that
the Scrutiny Committees didn’t allow an effective challenge, 64% said their work
programmes were ineffective and 84% said the Agendas left a lot to be desired.
Unfortunately my schedule yesterday did not allow an evening trip to the Civic
Centre to hear the Review being discussed so I asked Nicholas Dowling if he could spare
the time.
Remember Nicholas? He is the man who tore councillor Peter Craske’s justification
for tripling Residents’ Parking Permits to shreds and was rewarded with this…
If Nick’s report on what he has already admitted was a boring meeting reaches me
before the day is out it will appear below, and if it doesn’t you will have to
curb your impatience.