Council's 'breathtaking arrogance' slammed in privatisation row

3:36pm Wednesday 5th September 2012 in News

Cornwall Council ’s ruling cabinet has announced it is going to push on with plans to privatise its services – despite councillors voting against the scheme at a full council meeting on Tuesday.

Steve Double, the Council’s portfolio holder for environment, waste management and shared services, said the cabinet had already considered the issues raised at yesterday’s meeting and would press ahead with the scheme regardless.

Councillor Andrew Wallis, who put forward the motion against the plans at the meeting, has accused the cabinet of ‘breathtaking arrogance’.

In a statement issued this afternoon, councillor Double said: “As I said yesterday all the concerns which were raised by Members during the debate have already been considered by the Cabinet.

“The reality is that this proposal, which brings together the best of the private and public sector in an innovative partnership, is vital to the future delivery of Cornwall Council services.”

He added: “The facts are that entering into this partnership will help us to protect frontline services, create 500 new jobs and reduce costs by at least £5m a year. “This is surely in the best interests of the people of Cornwall.”

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Councillor Wallis responded: “I am extremely disappointed once again by the cabinet’s decision to ignore the democratic will of the council.

“They may not agree with the decision of member’s, but they should not just ignore it.

“This is just another example of the breathtaking arrogance of the leadership of the council.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Jeremy Rowe added: “I am appalled at this latest display of arrogance from the Conservatives at County Hall.

“At yesterday's meeting more than half of the democratically elected Councillors present voted to stop this privatisation process, yet today a select few tucked away in the top floor bunker in Truro have decided to ignore that clear view from the Council and plough on regardless.

“They have no mandate for this outsourcing project but they still have the arrogance to assume they know better than just about everybody else. It is a black day for democracy in Tory-led Cornwall.”

The contract will now be put out to tender, with a final decision on which company to partner with made by the cabinet in November.

Comments(26)

Zella says...
4:06pm Wed 5 Sep 12

About time Cornwall Council changed from a cabinet to a committee system.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
4:10pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Why has my previous post come up under Zella one wonders ! I closed the e-mail account relevant to that user name. Anyway like I said, it is about time Cornwall Council changed from a cabinet to a committee system.

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meerkats says...
5:29pm Wed 5 Sep 12

it is disgusting that they have totally disregarded the members side of it, how arrogant. Gill ,two of your comments now have come up as Zella , how strange

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Gill Zella Martin says...
5:39pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Perhaps they need some new cabinet members.

(meerkats, can't understand the use of my old user name, I am permenantly logged in under my new e-mail address and this user name, even when my daughter visits and uses the computer, I am logged back in under my only existing e-mail address, I closed the old account)

Wonder if the cabinets decision will affect anyone come the next election.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
6:42pm Wed 5 Sep 12

So why did they not ignore the majority before, for the stadium, and go ahead regardless to investigate a business plan ?

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Goldie 1 says...
10:24pm Wed 5 Sep 12

How can the minority, over rule the majority in a clear cut decision.

This is not democracy in the council chamber. This is dictatorship by a small group of jumped up councillors on the cabinet.

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ronedgcumbe says...
10:55pm Wed 5 Sep 12

We just have to accept that Cornwall is controlled by an con/ind group alliance. I always think unless i know different that Ind means conservative.

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steve eva says...
12:02am Thu 6 Sep 12

ronedgcumbe there was a recorded at the meeting yesterday before you slate the Independents check how many voted for the Motion.
The Motion was brought in by an Independent and supported by most of them.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
5:27am Thu 6 Sep 12

ronedgcumbe, steve eva is right, Cllr Andrew Wallis brought in a Motion to try to stop this and it was agreed on by the majority of councillors that voted. It is just unfortunate that the cabinet is completely ignoring this democratic vote and behaving like there are only ten councillors running Cornwall Council. That is why I believe, and have done for a long time, that Cornwall Council needs to change from a cabinet system as it clearly is not working. I suggest people remember who those Councillors were that have gone ahead with this regardless, at the next election. They have not only ignored the wishes of the majority of councillors and the majority of Independents, but ignored the wishes of the majority of the residents in Cornwall.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
6:03am Thu 6 Sep 12

I think they should have a vote of no confidence in Cornwall Council's leadership.

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GrahamHarris says...
9:22am Fri 7 Sep 12

On the BBC website a report says that this initiative could save £2.5 million a year.

In two separate articles on the Packet site, Mr Double says that the savings could be 'at least £5m a year' and then could 'reduce costs by £10m a year'.

Seems to be a lot of random figures being bandied about here.

I'm willing to bet that either Mr Double hasn't got a clue what he's talking about or perhaps the savings will actually amount to a big fat '£0' per year!!!

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Gill Zella Martin says...
10:45am Fri 7 Sep 12

Lol, I suspect you are correct GrahamHarris.

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falmouthborn says...
8:55pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Iv'e been on holiday, so I might not be up to speed on this debate. If I am wrong someone will correct me.
The facts as I see them, are that a Cabinet selected by the Leader of the County Council, is ignoring the councilors. It seems then that the leader has picked the wrong people and the leader is wrong. Can someone tell me if any local County Councilors voted for the leader to have that position. 5 out of 5 is my guess.

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ucsweb says...
10:01pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Sorry, it took me a little while to get up to speed on this. I can now see what is going to happen.
Cornwall Council will outsource some of its responsibilities. The new company will accept some of the the responsibilities. Then when a problem comes along............
Cornwall Council will say it is not their responsibility and the new company will say it is not part of their contract. Therefore it will no longer be a service available to the Council tax payers (even though they are still paying or it) and it wont be the councils fault.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
7:28am Sat 8 Sep 12

When the council selected a leader there was no guarantee what polices that leader would follow at a later date, anymore than he could guarantee whether the cabinet he chose would agree with him and/or the public on future issues, particularly as at the time no one had any way of knowing what future budgets the govenment would be providing. When Helston chose their first town manager it transpired to be a mistake, no one could possibly have known this at the time of employing him.
It is entirely up to the cabinet which way they vote, it is the system that puts them in the position of being able to make the final decision as a selected few that were selected by the leader, therefore it is the system that needs changing. Additionally, if councillors are not happy with the leadership then they have the right to have a vote of no confidence, however, if the majority are happy then once again that is democracy. Personally I think they should change from the cabinet system as it is clearly causing unrest. If services are shared between the council and private entities and it proves a failure it will be very difficult to rectify, therefore this decision certainly should not have been decided upon until after the forth coming council elections, then at least those councillors responsible for the decision would still be in office and therefore accountable for their decisions. For the council to state that jobs would be created, personally I think is pure fiction. If they are additionally planning on buying services from other councils as has been stated, then how will that affect current Cornwall Council staff.

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DCI Jen says...
12:32pm Sat 8 Sep 12

falmouth born, can you define 'local' councillors as this website covers many areas. If you mean Falmouth councillors which i suspect you do as you mention five and there are five Cornwall Councillors representing Falmouth, then why don't you contact each one personally and asked them? but even if they did vote for the leader to have that position they are not responsible for any future decisions he may make after being elected in. Are you responsible for any local MPs/govenment/counci
llors decisions they make just because you may have voted for them.

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ronedgcumbe says...
5:52pm Sat 8 Sep 12

Please excuse me if I am wrong but is it not a con ind alliance on Cornwall council and as the tories do not have a majority they are clearly supported by independents.
Are not four of the cabinet independent Councillors.
If the Independents are truly independent then a vote of no confidence in the cabinet would have to halt this intrusion into democracy.

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ronedgcumbe says...
5:58pm Sat 8 Sep 12

Surly when independents elect a torie cabinet they have some idea of the policy they will pursue, I'm sure I have.

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DCI Jen says...
6:48pm Sat 8 Sep 12

ronedgecumbe, The Independents did not elect the cabinet, only the leader of the council can elect the cabinet on his own.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
6:40am Mon 10 Sep 12

Did the cabinet vote in favour of this because they really believe it will be the best way forward for Cornwall, or did they just want to keep the leadership nice and happy.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
6:50am Mon 10 Sep 12

If this was a 'Labour government promoted policy', I wonder if Mr Robertson would be so motivated by it.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
12:14pm Wed 12 Sep 12

I have signed the online petition against privatization on the Cornwall Council website.

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Gill Zella Martin says...
12:14pm Wed 12 Sep 12

I have signed the online petition against privatization on the Cornwall Council website.

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ChangeTheCabinet says...
12:36pm Wed 12 Sep 12

The public have a right to know who is making the decision and who is supporting them in that decision. At the next election it should be made clear who Alec ROBBER ston actually represents and who his supporters represent. It is clear to me that they only represent themselves, certainly not the Cornish people. As the name says change the cabinet for and let it be led by Cllr Wallis or Cllr Biscoe!

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ChangeTheCabinet says...
12:43pm Wed 12 Sep 12

If you want to find out who is really behind this then take a look at Kevin Lavery's book, Smart Contracting for Local Government Services: Processes and Experience (Privatizing Government: An Interdisciplinary)
He even sets out how to get a comittee to do what you want it to do. How can an ex pub landlord be expected to run a multi million pound organisation! he may be a nice bloke, i have never met him, but his balls are in Mr Lavery's hands!

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Gill Zella Martin says...
2:31pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Hypothetically, If I had a cabinet I would just get them to agree with me about everything by getting those off the cabinet that did not stay in line, or at least try to get them off the cabinet, although I probably would not be successful.

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