Should local councillors’ performance be reviewed six months into the role?

Following the council elections on May 5, there will be some new and some familiar faces sitting on Caerphilly County Borough Council.

At the full council meeting on Tuesday, April 12, a proposal was put forward by Independent councillor Kevin Etheridge for all councillors, new and old, to have a six-month performance review.

It is not uncommon for someone in a new job to have a performance review around three to six months into their new role.

At the meeting, Cllr Etheridge, who represents the Blackwood ward and is currently campaigning for re-election, said: “There is no suggestion of blaming councillors or pointing the finger or throwing people out, I just want good practice.”

Cllr Etheridge suggested monitoring of councillors’ attendances to meetings and presenting a report of councillors’ performance indicators to the council’s democratic services scrutiny committee.

The Deputy Leader of the council, Cllr Jamie Pritchard, said: “I’m a bit uncomfortable with this. We have all been  new councillors before and it takes longer than six months to learn everything. We’re all learning, I have been a councillor for ten years and I’m still learning.”

Labour councillor Sean Morgan, who represents and is standing for re-election in the Nelson ward, described the proposal as “bizarre”.

Cllr Morgan, who stepped down as the council’s Deputy Leader last year, added: “It’s down to our residents to judge us.”

In a vote, the proposal was refused by the council, with eight voting in support and 35 against.

Despite voting against the proposal, Ynysddu’s Labour councillor John Ridgewell said he was broadly supportive of performance appraisals. He suggested that meeting attendance should be made clear to councillors.

The council’s Chief Executive, Christina Harrhy, said: “Respective group leaders can discuss this after the election with the new formed council.”

Following the decision, Cllr Etheridge said: “I find it astonishing that councillors can vote against performance indicators for themselves when we represent and are voted by the public.

“There must be accountability appraisal and a monitoring system.”