Plaid Cymru have proposed Caerphilly Council’s Cabinet be cut in size.
The party called on the ruling Labour group on Caerphilly County Borough Council to cut the number of Cabinet members after leader Harry Andrews’ decision to step down.
Councillor Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, said the resignation of Councillor Andrews provided the perfect opportunity to reduce the Cabinet membership from ten.
Councillor Mann said: “Reducing the number of Cabinet members by one would save around £30,000 when national insurance and other costs are also taken into account.
“When they came to power in 2012, Labour added another member to the Cabinet structure. The resignation of Councillor Andrews provides the perfect opportunity to reduce administrative costs.
“Times are very difficult for residents, council tax has been increased by 3.9%, public toilets have been closed and people are being asked to pay to park in our country parks. So it is only right that sacrifices should be made at the top.
“There is no justification for keeping Cabinet numbers at ten – the council can function perfectly well at nine which the last Plaid administration did.”
Labour hit back at the proposals, a spokesman said: “The Nationalists’ estimates of potential savings are wildly inflated. And recent Wales Audit Office criticisms have shown that the last, Plaid Cymru-controlled, administration in Caerphilly did not function ‘perfectly well’ with a nine-member cabinet.”
Labour group Deputy Leader Cllr Keith Reynolds added: “Under Labour leadership, governance of Caerphilly County Borough Council is steadily improving – as confirmed by WAO.
“It’s about time Cllr Colin Mann stopped trying to cover up his own failings while in office, and started coming up with serious ideas for protecting our vital public services.”
This, Plaid Cymru
Suggestion, holds water, and is a credible proposal,
which most Labour Party members ( not Councillors) support. But, it will
be resisted by the Deputy Labour Leader, Kieth Reynolds, publicly
demonstrating, like some two year old, by throwing his toys out of the
pram, whilst at the same time making every public attempt to nudge aside
the SECOND Deputy Leader of the Labour group on the Council, Councillor
Gerald Jones, in their `sycophantic` crawling to take over the Crown
from Harry Andrews, as leader of the council, who has decided to put
his feet up.
I
would caution these two elected people in their rush to high office,
and, all other elected Labour Councillors, to think twice before
dismissing the Plaid Cymru proposals, the public agree with Plaid Cymru
on this issue, and that includes Labour members.
And it is a bit rich for Keith Reynolds to be critical of Colin Mann for not coming up with serious ideas to protect public services, when he and his Cabinet sidestepped and ignored many credible and serious ideas put forward by residents to do just that. And, I say that as a Labour supporter.
Political opportunism I see here. This was a man who agreed to give the Deputy Chief Executive during the previous administration a huge pay rise, and he has the temerity to criticise or call for reduced numbers of cabinet members. We need strong governance to sort out the mess and put the authority on a secure footing. Its easy to say get rid of senior officers and get rid of the Councillors – what will happen to the governance of the organisation then?
This seems a perfectly reasonable proposal. I am not a fan of cabinet directed councils in any case. It merely encourages some councillors to inflate their self importance along with their salaries.
Why do not Labour keep quiet? Or would that look too much like agreeing with Plaid?