A senior Caerphilly County Borough councillor has apologised after the authority came under fire over alleged party bias in a report to councillors.
Cllr David Poole said he made a “pigs ear” of the situation when encouraging the report’s author to include a sentence that was deemed party politically biased.
A member of the public made a complaint to Cllr Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru opposition group on the council, about a report discussed at a Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee meeting on September 16.
The report discussed waste management issues that could affect front-line services, but offence was taken to a sentence in its conclusion after the report said changes to services would “be perceived by many in the borough as a blatant waste of money and resources”.
It said: “There is also significant concern among the controlling Labour administration that forced service changes against the wishes of citizens may have political implications with citizen views which will be expressed at via the ballot box in the forthcoming elections.”
One of the requirements set out in the ‘fundamental principles’ of governance set out in the council’s Code of Corporate Governance is to ensure arrangements are put in place “to ensure that members and employees of the authority are not influenced by prejudice, bias or conflicts of interest.”
But a Plaid Cymru spokesman said the party political bias in the report by an officer who should remain neutral is clear.
Cllr Colin Mann said: “These blatant party political comments were brought to my attention by a member of the public who was appalled at the remarks.
“I’ve served in local government for almost 40 years and can never recall such a partisan party political comment being made in an officer’s report.
“Officers are supposed to be independent of party politics and should be working for the good of the council and not speculating about changes in services are likely to impact on the results of elections.
“I have asked the interim chief executive to investigate how these comments came to be included in a report on waste management and report to the full council.”
Cllr David Poole, who urged the sentence be put into the section written by Mark Williams, the head of the council’s public services, has apologised for the wording of the report, calling it “clumsy”.
In a response to Cllr Mann, who called for an apology, he said: “Mark reluctantly but at my insistence put that wording into the response have looked at it again and I made a pigs ear of the point I wanted to make.
“I wanted to get over the point that the 12 local authorities would be affect by public opinion if the Welsh Government made us change.
“As I said the wording was clumsy. I would like to apologise for the wording. I will apologise separately to Mark.”
The Cabinet Member for Community & Leisure Services, said: “I apologise for any impression that the comment contained in the response to the consultation was intended to be party political.
“Caerphilly is one of the best performing authorities for recycling rates in Wales, partly because our collection system is simple and easy to use. If we are forced down the road of pre-sorted kerbside recycling collections it would cost more and we would almost certainly see recycling rates fall.
“What I was trying to convey was that the electors, to whom we are all accountable whether as Councillors or Assembly Members, do not want to pay more for a worse service.”
A Caerphilly County Borough Council spokesman said the chief executive would not be investigating as an explanation and public apology have been made.
A spokesman for the Welsh Local Government Association said they would not comment as it is a single council issue.
I have no comment regarding the bias of the sentence in the report but this sentence, if reported accurately, is a good example of poor grammar used in council reports. Look again and see if it makes sense.
“There is also significant concern among the controlling Labour
administration that forced service changes against the wishes of
citizens may have political implications with citizen views which will
be expressed at via the ballot box in the forthcoming elections.”
It is really badly written, whether by a senior officer or cabinet member, and it is no wonder that council reports are frequently misunderstood. Here is what I think it intends to say.
“There is signifigant concern, amongst Labour members, that forced service charges may have political implications. Citizen’s views, on these charges, will be expressed via the ballot box at forthcoming elections.”
Shorter and more accurate, it is charitable to call the wording of the original ‘clumsy’ as it is just poorly written. But I left school at sixteen and am not in a comfy, well paid job at the council so what do i know?
It can be shortened again but still have it’s definition unchanged. Most publicly available documents from CCBC are poorly written containing a whole array of grammatical errors. To think they are the ones in charge of Caerphilly’s schools.
“With citizens able to express their views via the ballot box at forthcoming elections, Labour members are concerned any changes may have political implications.”
Even if the sentence was well-written, is there any need for it to be included? Of course decisions have political implications. Every decision the council makes will have political implications if the public disagree. It is the reason why there are elections; it’s a chance to vote out the people who make decisions you disagree with.
Absolutely correct Dean, the council is a political entity and the sentence is superfluous. That it is also a very poor piece of writing just indicates that standards, at the council, are not what they should be.
IT MIGHT BE OF SOME INTEREST TO KNOW WHAT THE LEVEL OF EDUCATION THERE IS AMONG THE CURRENT BUNCH OF COUNCILLORS WE HAVE.
IS THERE ANYWHERE THAT THIS INFORMATION IS HELD ON RECORD? IF SO, WHERE?
AS A MATTER OF INTEREST, WHAT WOULD THE EDUCATIONAL LEVEL BE AMONG OUR CURRENT BATCH OF COUNCILLORS? IS THIS ON RECORD, OR MERELY DISMISSED AS SOMETHING QUITE IRRELEVANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF A COUNCILLOR.
Brian, so far as I am aware there is no requirement of councillors, whether at borough or community level, to declare their qualifications. Therefore this will not be a matter of record. In fairness to those councillors who have few, or no, formal qualifications this need not impact on their ability to represent the people. The intelligence to be able to ask the right questions is more important and I know several good councillors who do just this, despite their lack of academic qualifications.
For my part I am an honours graduate and also hold other qualifications such as, Level V NVQ (Management), NEBOSH, HNC (MIcrosystems) and Dip. DEA.
Thank you Councillor Williams. I fully agree with your comments about the importance of asking the right questions. You might agree that this ability is called ‘common sense’ which in itself is worth its weight in gold almost. I didn’t go to university.