Wales Audit Office - A spineless quango

Further to my previous post, and not confined to the issues surrounding the Towy Church project, I have been thinking further about the role the Wales Audit Office (WAO) have with Carmarthenshire Council. Clearly the council have the upper hand when it comes to dealing with this supposedly independent body. This is not the first time I, and others have asked them to look at actions taken by this council and readers may also remember the whitewash 'investigation' of the planning department a couple of years ago when even the MP urged them to continue with their investigation after it's deeply unsatisfactory conclusion. Of course, the WAO itself has had it's own share of problems, (please search the blog for numerous earlier posts) and keen to restore public confidence in this 'scrutiny' body, a new auditor general was appointed and a 'clean sheet' promised. I am not convinced though and as far as Carmarthenshire council is concerned the external auditor seems to have as much clout to protect public money as caebrwyn's cat does. I don't think the answer is to privatise the process as is happening in England, this will only mean that the auditors will be driven by profit and so even less likely to bite the hand that feeds; the answer in Carmarthenshire anyway is, quite simply, to grow a pair.

This commenter on my earlier post says it how it is;

"The Wales audit Office seem so terrified of upsetting their client (who after all pays them and helps keep them in employment) that they continually ignore the Audit Commission Act 1998 regarding Value for Money specifically ensuring the audited body has made proper arrangements for securing Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness in the use of it's resources.
The Act and Guidance read very well - however this is the same as the tailors enthusing about the fabric used in the Emperor's New Clothes. Look beyond the publications and the assurances provided by the Auditor, and you will see a scared, trembly organisation, too unsure of itself and it's work to voice any criticism, capable of producing well written(although meaningless) reports to justify it's own existence, and sufficiently complimentary of the audited bodies to ensure their continued re-appointment.
It dismays me the hope that the public have in this toothless body, the hope with which they report issues, and their bewilderment when they receive the standard responses of all being OK as everything was done legally and procedurally correctly. This must be why Jacqui, you perceive their remit to be so narrow. It's not - but they interpret it that way to wriggle out of their responsibilities. Examples such as the Llanelli Rugby Football Club - Carmarthenshire Council's decision to invest in them in November 2007 when the company was in breach of company law, withholding the publication of their accounts to avoid publicising the club's own auditors' Going Concern qualification (now back in their accounts). Turning a blind eye to the unlawful spending of monies in libel actions.
And now doing their best, and a pretty good fob-off job to the untrained eye, to justify the excessive and reckless spending on this Church"

I have also had the WAO response to my enquiries about the Council/Towy Church project checked by an expert and there is absolutely no reason why it should be 'strictly private and confidential' or 'not for publication' - so, as I said, if anyone wants a copy, email me.

Was there an election on the 3rd May?

Short of an uprising at Thursday's council meeting, Cllr Kevin Madge (Lab) will be voted in as the new Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, with Pam Palmer playing second fiddle. He will need 38 votes. The move from Meryl to Madge is almost seamless.
Call me cynical but it's looking increasingly like the election on 3rd May was superfluous to requirements, with all the major players moving back into place to ensure another five years of this officer-led council. I'm not sure what the 12 month review of the arrangement is all about, maybe there weren't enough lucrative positions to go round this time and some will have to wait for a 'reshuffle'. Plaid must be reeling from the shock that exactly the same thing has happened to them as it did after the 2008 election.

Still, our council will be leaping into the 21st century with Kevin, here's one of his most recent memorable statements;

"...Twitter is dangerous and it's not something I support. I don't use it and I do not want any of our political candidates to use it - it's only for young people and not a good thing to use for politics" 

Will he, as Leader, continue to agree wholeheartedly with every anti-democratic move and every bizarre spending decision 'proposed' by officers as he and the rest of the Executive Board have done? Other notable moments whilst in his role as 'Older People's Champion' include voting to close the two care homes in Llanelli, failing to support a group of frail pensioners at County Hall presenting a petition to save their day club and voting to approve £4m cuts to elderly services over three years in February's budget meeting.

So, until I see evidence to the contrary, the farce continues.

Interesting comment overheard at the count, from a Labour member who was in the last administration; "We've done such a good job working with the independents, so I hope it will be Labour in charge now, because if it's Plaid, Mark might leave".

Carmarthenshire Council - A deal is struck

So after endless speculation (latest rumours) a formal statement has now been issued to the press confirming that deals have been done and we will have a Labour/Independent coalition at Carmarthenshire Council, the arrangement to be reviewed after 12 months. Presumably not much different from the Independent/Labour coalition we've had for the past umpteen years. Further details, including who will be Leader, and who has landed the most lucrative positions, have yet to be announced.
I will update this post as and when I hear more.

Here's the reaction from Plaid Cymru; Contempt for Democracy

and, according to Independent Leader, Cllr Pam Palmer, the decision to form a coalition with Labour has been made after 'careful consideration' and for the benefit of the residents of Carmarthenshire.
Really? I think that was the last thing on their minds.
The first round of sweeties, ie Leadership and deputies will be handed out at tonight's meeting of the Labour group. Meryl will not be leader but that will be little consolation as she will undoubtedly feature large on the Executive Board, possibly with the regeneration portfolio, ensuring that the 'dream team' of Meryl and the Chief Exec (Cllr Madge's description) will be preserved.

Thursday's AGM should prove interesting, apparently there's an item to 'consider the protocol for the nomination of Chair' - maybe an ability to Chair a meeting has become an imperative after Ivor's performance last year, and maybe one will be 'elected', rather than the automatic installation of last year's vice-chair as the usual 'free lunch' reward for loyal service.

Wales Audit Office and the Council

Back in January I asked the Wales Audit Office to investigate the council's involvement with the evangelical Towy Community Church Excel project in Johnstown, Carmarthen to the tune of £1.4m. Concerns have been raised on this blog, and others, for the past couple of years. So I'll not repeat it all again. There have also been critical articles in Wales on Sunday and Private Eye with the local MP also calling into question certain aspects of the 'partnership', and of course there was the council meeting in December where the loan was approved. A couple of weeks ago BBC Dragon's Eye also aired concerns - you may remember that no one was available for comment, apart from the Chief Executive just to say he couldn't comment - it being close to an election and all that, although commenting on the controversial Stradey Development, Furnace School, the Grillo site and the industrial dispute with the binmen was different, apparently.

Anyway, I digress, as you may imagine the response from the WAO was as expected, everything is fine - what were you all worrying about? Not that I'm questioning the independence of the WAO but the response reads as if it had been penned by County Hall itself. The letter also warns against publication, twice; I can't think why not, there is nothing in it of a 'sensitive' nature, all of the information is already in the public domain and it does not reveal anyone's details. As the letter is five pages long I am unable to publish it anyway but if anyone would like a copy, please email me.

I am aware of course that the remit of the WAO is quite narrow, focussing on proper procedures and compliance with the law, rather than the more ethical questions which have risen, although 'looking after our money' is their watchword, which, I imagine, includes not taking unnecessary risks with it either. Unfortunately the WAO also fails to take into consideration Carmarthenshire council's own loose interpretation of law and procedures. 

Anyway, let's have a look at the response. It starts with a brief background, emphasising that a bowling alley is a 'priority for the residents of Carmarthen', (where have I heard that before) and confirms that from 2009 the Council 'chose to deal exclusively with the church'. This was when presumably, the links to the 'Mercy Ministries' were evident as was the intention of the church to establish one in Carmarthen - the 'seed that never grew' according to the Pastor.

The letter then outlines the legal requirements which enabled the council to pursue this 'opportunity' (odd choice of word for the WAO). Perhaps we should remind ourselves here that this evangelical church is run from a small office above a sweet shop in Carmarthen.

The WAO list some of the grants, including the £280,000 from the council in May 2011 and appear satisfied that the various requirements over the disposal of the land such as State Aid/Procurement considerations were met after the council sought external legal advice, (at unknown cost). Similarly the WAO concludes that the risks concerning the loan in December were conveyed to the Executive Board and the Council but that "the council took the view that the project was at an advanced stage and that it was a risk they should accept", if I remember rightly they had little choice given the, er, zealous nature of the council meeting, and the project had yet to get off the ground let alone be in an 'advanced stage'. The risk, you may remember, is that the council has very little security on the loan, being third in line after the bank and the lottery. Basically, the WAO have been told that all the various criteria for the numerous grants, the loan and the land deal have been met, and that is as far as they are going with it. As for meeting some of the grant criteria, I'm still as puzzled as I was earlier this year;

"amongst the whole funding package was £25,000 from the Rural Develoment Plan - which is EU money aimed at improving access to services and regenerating rural/agricultural areas of Wales - in this case the fund specifically paid for 'one and a half bowling lanes' in the urban area of Johnstown, Carmarthen. Another grant was £25,000 from the council's 'sustainable Communities Tourism Fund' - set up to "develop and safeguard local legends, history, culture, art and language to inform visitors of the county's distinctiveness, and also to maintain the character of Carmarthenshire for it's residents" Hmm.

As for the planning permission the WAO deny that it is 'flexible' as stated in the report to the council in December but then go on to state that it is in fact 'flexible', with regards to D1 - D2 Use Classes, which, of course includes use as a 'place of worship or religious instruction'.

The whole tone of the response is dismissive.

The last paragraph is particularly abrasive given my real concerns after Meryl Gravell's disturbing public statement that the 'partnership' with the evangelical project would hopefully ease the pressure on the Social Care budget and described it as "the biggest social enterprise in Carmarthenshire. That's what we need more of in the future"

The WAO said;

"You suggest that the Council's interest in facilitating this project is in some ways 'off-loading' some aspects of it's social care responsibilities. I am unclear as to how this could be viewed as such, for example, the council has no legal duty to provide a furniture recycling warehouse etc....This does not therefore appear to be an issue.

I hope you find this response helpful, although I have to conclude that I can see no reason to take any further audit action on the issues that you raise at this point under the powers that we have. Can I also remind you that this response is strictly private and confidential"

So there you go, most of the boxes have been ticked as far as the WAO are concerned, and for some reason I don't think it will be long before those of us who are raising concerns about this large investment of Carmarthenshire taxpayers' money in an evangelical church, particularly given the severe cuts promised for elderly care and childrens' services, are referred to as an 'unfortunate example of a small group of people' intent on harming the council and the church (it was 'harming the council and the club' in a recent Western Mail article over the finances relating to the other great council 'not costing the taxpayer a penny' venture, Parc Y Scarlets) - a favourite tactic from our council to marginalise objectors who question (too deeply) the merits and ethics of favoured council projects.

As for the WAO, perhaps they should rethink their remit, as well as their investigating procedures. The long and expensive saga over the Stradey/Parc y Scarlets development is notable for the absence of the WAO.

Incidentally, I also asked the WAO, informally, by phone, about the funding of the Chief Executive's counterclaim for libel, (on behalf of the taxpayers of Carmarthenshire rather than as an interested party), and whether they had been informed and were monitoring the situation, as they said they would should the council ever use this unique power, given the huge possible financial implications for the taxpayer. Yes, they said, they had been informed were happy with it all. There we are then. Interestingly I was also told that the Executive Board are being kept fully informed and updated about the case; this is all rather odd as I am precluded from publicly mentioning the details of the case for obvious reasons yet it seems that everyone and his dog in County Hall have free rein on all the details. Neither am I sure, as I myself am suing the Council as well as the Chief Executive, who exactly has a conflict of interest in formal discussions within the council. I also wonder whether my council tax is funding a case against me. I am also aware that when the decision to fund the Chief Executive's counterclaim against me was made in the Executive Board meeting in January, the Chief Executive himself, according to the approved minutes, remained in the meeting. 

Carmarthenshire Leadership - Latest Rumours

Here's the latest rumour, from an anonymous commenter on my previous post, I repeat, it's still only a rumour as no official statement has been made yet;

"The white smoke was seen over County Hall today. Dominium Kevin 'Leader of the Council' Madge.
The official news is that Kevin Madge has secured the leadership of the Labour Group. His chief rival from Llanelli Tegwen Devichand has been bought off with being Deputy Leader of the Labour Group and Council.
The independents listened with closed ears (for all of 5 seconds) to Plaid Cymru. They sent a delegation consisting of those well-known Plaid lovers in the former administration Councillors Meryl Gravell and Pam Palmer to hear them out (at the insistence of the independent group at Parc y Scarlets on Thursday). Talks broke down between Meryl and Pam and Plaid Cymru quite quickly - in fact the talks broke down about a week before they started.
So the smoke above County Hall has turned red. Kevin Madge will lead the Council. He will have two deputies; one independent (Pam Palmer) and one Labour (Tegwen Devichand)
Tipped for the cabinet are Meryl Gravell who gets the Regeneration portfolio, so the Mark and Meryl show continues.
Chairman of the Health Committee Jane Tremlett is tipped for promotion to the cabinet for the same portfolio.
Pat Jones has been given her P45 by the Llanelli Labour Party for trying to shut the care homes.
Also being promoted to the cabinet is Cllr Jim Jones as a reward for crushing an independent group rebellion that wanted to do a deal with Plaid.
We await more news from County Hall as the deal is thrashed out over the weekend ready to be unveiled on Wednesday"

Update 13th May; Latest gossip....
It would seem that the best way to decide who's running the council would be to have some sort of competition, It's a Knockout perhaps with a greasy pole climb as a finale. The latest gossip is that Plaid may have thrown a desperate spanner in the works by offering the Independents the pick of the sweetshop, ie 9 out of 10 cabinet posts, keeping Meryl on for a bit and most of the committee Chairs. The independents are meeting today to decide who to side with and the Labour group meet tonight to ratify their offers to the independents. Apparently there is also division within the independents with several threatening to set up their own group if the main camp sides with Plaid and a couple threatening to remain 'unaffiliated' if the they join with Labour. And for those still puzzled by the very idea of an Independent group, so am I.
The sweeties, of course, are substantial; on top of the basic allowance there's an extra £35k for Leader, £18.5k for each Deputy Leader, £17.7k for the other 8 cabinet members, and between £7 to £10k for the committee chairs.
With the independents divided it looks like a shaky, but politically interesting, administration will emerge, whoever plays the trump card.
Another source has said that an attempt by Giles Morgan and Huw Richards (both Ind), to lead a decamp to Plaid, without Meryl, failed due to lack of sufficient volunteers. There are also problems within the Labour group with the old guard wishing to preserve the pre-election status quo but the newcomers not so sure.

More rumours...and other news

With the question of the council leadership and control still under intense speculation it's probably pointless me mentioning it again until firm announcements are made. However, having become a bit of an anorak about these things I'll continue with the rumours a bit longer. Comments on my previous post can be seen here and predict Plaid taking control but the latest tweets from the Plaid camp, who, you remember, now have 28 seats on the council are not so optimistic and it appears that Labour (23 seats) have managed to entice more 'independents' than Plaid;

"Meeting for 3 group leaders scheduled for tomorrow am, but hearing now Labour and Independents have already done a deal"
and
"Hearing that it will be 5 Independent and 5 Labour members on the Carmarthenshire Executive Board....."

Update 10th May; A source tells me that an Indie/Labour coalition looking likely with the Indies meeting tonight to hand out the sweeties. More info may emerge from the councillor induction meeting at the Scarlet's stadium this afternoon. Word has it that Labour may sideline Kevin Madge as leader in favour of someone more, er, what can I say...

I have also noticed that an extra county council meeting has just been listed for the 25th May; the AGM and full council is still next week on Thursday. This extra meeting is described as 'adjourned meeting county council' - which I presume means that next week's meeting will go on so long that it will have to be adjourned...sounds like they have a full programme planned.....

In other news, I see that the Editor of the Carmarthen Journal left the paper today. I wish her well. According to Northcliffe Media the hunt for a replacement will begin immediately, let's hope no one in County Hall sees this as an opportunity to extend the Council spin empire any further, or even formalise the current arrangements. Perhaps former Editor, Robert Lloyd, @rlloydpr, would kindly save the day and quickly apply for his old job back?

Finally, a mention of Llanelli Labour AM Keith Davies, 71, who was caught misbehaving at a hotel in Cardiff. AM's from 'out of town' stay in a rather plush hotel courtesy of the taxpayer, by way of an apology for his drunken rampage he has generously agreed to pay the hotel bill himself and hopefully the bill for the 'mystery woman' too.

The Council and the local press..again

I hear that yet again County Hall are having rather too much say on the contents of the local papers. This time it involves the current dispute between refuse collectors represented by Unison, and the council. The dispute has been ongoing resulting in a backlog of rubbish on the streets. Towards the end of April the Chief Executive issued a statement, published on the Council website which laid the blame squarely on the binmen, and the Union for refusing to put up with revised working conditions brought about, the council says, by the Single Status agreement.
Last week the Carmarthenshire branch of Unison wrote a letter for publication in the Carmarthen Journal outlining their side of the story. The Journal contacted the council press office for a comment and shortly afterwards a senior officer from the council contacted the paper and suggested that it would be inappropriate to publish Unison's letter so close to the election.
This comes from the same council who felt it entirely appropriate to publish an article enthusing over their latest victory over the Stradey development and employing the usual tactic of condemning opponents as troublemakers who seek only to 'harm' the council. A couple of months ago the Chief Executive was allowed to have the 'last word' over a series of letters concerning the funding of legal actions, an issue which had been distorted by the council into an diverted attack on the lady who had raised the matter in the first place. The flurry of letters written after the Chief Executive's were not printed. The issue of editorial control by County Hall is not new and goes back some years.

I am publishing these statements from Unison as too often, with the attitude of County Hall, we are left with a very one-sided view of any dispute. After all, it was only a few short weeks ago that Meryl Gravell uttered her infamous speech laying the blame for 'the problems in the council' on the laziness of the staff. 

Here is the letter from Unison deemed 'too political' by a senior council officer for the Carmarthen Journal to print prior to en election;

"We would like to take this opportunity to give an alternative view to the refuse issues that have been causing Carmarthenshire County Council and some members of the public problems of late.
Despite the blame being laid firmly at the feet of the hardworking drivers and loaders, Carmarthenshire County Council Independent/labour led coalition has to take responsibility for these problems and not use the issue of single status as a smokescreen.
The Chief Executive, in his recent article fails to mention that in order to complete rounds many refuse workers would turn up early to check their lorries, work through their breaks and push themselves in order to complete rounds with the likely repercussion of physical ailments in later life. One of the many dangers of the job is having excreta sprayed over your face and clothes and of having to handle offensive waste. Ask yourself, how many refuse collectors have you seen over 50?
'Job and finish' has also been removed. Carmarthenshire County Council say that this due to wanting equality for all staff, but they fail to acknowledge that refuse workers work in rain, snow and icy conditions and are expected to work in wet clothes, at a frantic pace crossing dangerous roads for a full shift is not practical or sensible. Has there been a single complaint from other employees or the public about job and finish? The old saying that 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it' seems to apply here.
The Technical Services department has told loaders and drivers that they are no to run and not to collect refuse from both sides of the street at once; this has led to rounds taking longer to complete and a subsequent build up in refuse. Compare this to Cwm Collections [Cwm Environmental, wholly owned subsidiary of the council, see previous posts] the company which has been used to cover the unfinished rounds; it is alleged that they have been witnessed running, collecting from both sides of the street at once and not being forced to adhere to the same health and safety rules as council workers.
Along with other frontline workers, refuse loaders have been heavily hit as a result of Single Status, losing close to £2,500 in wages, losing their bonus and agreed overtime payments for Bank Holidays. Refuse collection has only worked well in this county due to the hard work and goodwill of the frontline staff. In light of these cuts is it any wonder that this goodwill has disappeared?
Compare the average wage of a refuse loader with that of the five top levels of management who were also spared from going through the single status process and were not asked to choose between a savage cut to their wages, terms and conditions, or the prospect of losing their job.
It is time that Carmarthenshire County Council owned up to the failures of Single Status and admit that it has protected the highest paid in the county while dealing a hammer blow to hard working frontline staff. Management has made several promises about the refuse collection rounds, how work is distributed, and their support for workers' single status appeals; these promises and more need to be made a reality if Carmarthenshire Council is to regain the trust and goodwill of refuse workers"

Mark Evans
Branch Secretary
Carmarthenshire County Unison Branch

 Mark Evans, Unison, has also issued this statement;

"The Unison Carmarthenshire Branch submitted this article for consideration on Tuesday 1st May. We have been informed by a source within the Carmarthen journal that when they asked Carmarthenshire Council for a statement on the issue, a senior officer advised the Journal not to print our letter before the local elections due to it's 'political nature'.
In their eventual response to our letter Carmarthenshire Council points out that Unison represents a small portion of the refuse workers. This is true, but we would fight just as hard if we had just one member in the affected service; we do not sit back and allow our members' terms and conditions to be eroded and their effectiveness as a workforce to be questioned without presenting their side of events.
The end of 'job and finish' is touted as an equality issue, but it was this perk of the job that was responsible for so much goodwill from the refuse workers. It was the possiblilty of an early finish (although we are unaware of any 'simply leaving three hours early'), that made working in soaking, cold and uncomfortable conditions bearable. With it, workers would work through breaks with the knowledge that they could get changed after completing their work, before their sodden and unclean clothes caused health problems. without it, Carmarthenshire Council must put inplace alternatives to ensure that workers do not spend overly long periods of time in adverse weather conditions and have adequate changing and break facilities away from their lorries. We would argue for the same treatment for all staff, be they refuse workers, traffic wardens, patrol staff etc and if any member works in such conditions we would urge them to speak to us so that we can take the issue up with management.
The response also mentions 'constructive discussions' that we have been involved in. We are firmly on the side of our members and to our knowledge, Carmarthenshire Council has only made some tentative suggestions, no concrete proposals as a solution to the current problem; a problem that can be summed up by saying that Carmarthenshire Council only meets it's statutory duty to collect waste by relying on the goodwill of refuse collectors, goodwill that is built on give and take. At the moment Carmarthenshire Council is 'taking' jobs, 'taking' wages and 'taking' conditions."


If anyone is under the false impression that forgoing breaks, or lumping bin bags around at speed, in the rain, to finish a round that bit quicker is a 'perk', then have a look at this; THESE are perks; Just the ticket - I doubt if many of the county's refuse collectors enjoy champagne lunches at rugby matches courtesy of property developers, or for that matter travel by train to nice hotels on the council credit cards either.

The question of leadership

Further to my previous post, rumours have been rife over the bank holiday weekend concerning the leadership of the council.

Although Plaid have cornered Carmarthen, 17 out of the 23 Labour councillors now come from Llanelli, and rumour has it that they believe their group leader should come from there. After the 2008 election, the only person available and willing to take the job of leader of the small Labour group was Kevin Madge who has spent the last four years agreeing with Meryl and her independent closet Tories. Labour, I hear, are reluctant to join the independents with Meryl at the helm and a possible contender for the post of Leader of Labour and the Council, I hear, is Bill Thomas who has now regained his seat in Lliedi after losing it in 2008. An interesting prospect, as Mr Thomas has spent the last four years as being something of a thorn in the side of County Hall, and particularly the Chief Executive, by continuing to campaign over the issue of pollution of the Burry Port inlet and the development of 355 executive homes at Stradey Park. 

Of course, if Plaid are successful in coaxing enough councillors to join them, they may have the upper hand. According to sources, Plaid may be considering a more formal link up with the independents, one offer, apparently is that Meryl will be allowed to carry on as Leader for a couple of years before passing the post onto Peter Hughes Griffiths. In which case, I imagine they wouldn't be repeating their earlier attempt to boot her out.

I am sure the results of the rumours, speculation and horse trading will emerge over the next few days and it will be interesting to see who's sitting where at next week's AGM and full council meeting (Thursday 17th May) and who's acquired the more lucrative positions. I shall be back in the public gallery and I will also be interested to see whether the 'operational decision' to unlawfully obstruct our democratic rights to observe meetings has been abandoned, if not I shall be raising my objections.

Update 1pm; BBC political correspondent has just tweeted that "Plaid - Independent coalition talks appear to be progressing fastest" whilst another source reports (unconfirmed, I hasten to add) that Cllr Gravell is busy clearing her desk at Llanelli Town Hall...if she's seen at County Hall Carmarthen loading the boot of her car with lucky gonks and framed photos of senior executives, please let me know.

The struggle for power begins...

I see that the grappling for power in Carmarthenshire Council has begun. Plaid have issued a statement appealing to individual councillors to join their fold and adopt their manifesto. I assume the call is largely aimed at the so-called independent councillors who may think it's time to ditch Meryl as a sinking ship. The question of the integrity of any of the independent councillors to remain independent and not join any group remains to be seen. However, Labour may have beaten them to it as, according to a Plaid spokesman, the Labour group met with various independents yesterday morning at 9 o'clock, the venue having been booked over a week ago.  So it looks to me that if it's not Meryl and Mark running the show, it's likely to be Kevin and Mark, and with Kevin Madge having consistently shown his total commitment to continuing the undemocratic officer led regime, it's all looking a bit bleak.

One thing I suppose is clear and that is there are only three players in the leadership contest, Meryl Gravell, Labour's Kevin Madge or plaid's Peter Hughes Griffiths, backed by whatever deal each can muster, and as Cneifiwr points out, it may well be the promise of lucrative positions which will determine future allegiances.

Peter Hughes Griffiths, in his plea for support stated;

“In the spirit of our manifesto in which we promised to return democracy to the council, we are opening the door to councillors who can sign up to our manifesto and join us for the benefit of the county"

Interesting use of the word democracy; where have the majority of Plaid councillors been for the past few years? They may have been in opposition but they've had numbers, and public voices. Where was their objection to the change in the constitution to sue members of the public in 2008? Where was their concerted and loud opposition to more recent changes to silence minority views? Why did they not challenge the appalling and unlawful restrictions for members of the public entering the public gallery? And where were their publicly stated concerns over the decision to fund the Chief Executive's legal costs? Not to mention the Council's questionable involvement with an evangelical church or the continuing bailing out by the taxpayer of the rugby stadium.  And what about the insidious control over the local press by County Hall? Plaid's pledge to rid us of the Carmarthenshire News is to be welcomed but there are wider issues over the culture of spin and misinformation which need to be addressed.
Mumbling dissent in the Chamber is no good to anyone, once in a while you have to put your head over the parapet, and be heard, loud and clear.
If Plaid gain control, they will have to go a long way to please Caebrwyn. Not a challenge I would even waste my breath with in respect of the other two.

Oh, and, while I'm here, who will take over the mantle of 'Young People's Champion' now that veteran councillor Gwynne 'the only book worth reading is the bible' Wooldridge has lost his seat? My money's on Tom Theophilus who, as an octogenerian, has just the right qualification for those jokers in County Hall. I hope I'm wrong.

Hypocrisy in St Clears?

Back briefly to the matter of allowing the public to film council meetings. Last year, in July, not long after my arrest, St Clears Town Council (Carmarthenshire) issued this statement (my underlining);

The Town Council's Planning Committee expressed support for Carmarthenshire blogger, Jacqui Thompson, at its meeting on 14th June [2011]. This was endorsed by the full Council at its meeting on 12th July....Chair of the Planning Committee, Cllr Selwyn Runnett, commented:

"The County Council are in danger of making themselves look foolish. This story has been covered by papers such as the Guardian and The Telegraph as well as Private Eye. This is the 21st century and Council Tax payers should be entitled to record public meetings of any Council.."

Move forward now to 2012, a few weeks ago local man, Alan Evans, author of community blog, the St Clears Times put in a request to the Town Council to film it's meetings, his request was refused almost unanimously, the only dissenter, I believe, was Cllr Runnett who has maintained his support for openness through filming. The (now usual) fears were expressed that 'context may be lost' and they, the council should have control over filming. Mr Evans has raised previous concerns about how the town council has been operating, he has used the proper channels, sought answers and, basically, as any of us will be aware who have tried to raise a concern involving any issue greater than a local pothole, got nowhere. His reasons for wishing to film sounds familiar;

"I made a request to film the meeting as I felt that discussions were taking place and the minutes did not reflect these discussions. In the interests of democracy and open local government I made a request. Previously I had made a request to digitally record sound only and this was also refused on the grounds that the sound could be doctored....I also pointed out that the Town Council had discussed your case and decided to support you and condemn Carmarthenshire County Council's decision. Hypocrisy reigns..
A camera pointed to cover the whole room running all the time is hardly rocket science. What are they afraid of...?"


So, not only Mr Evans but the residents of St Clears and so far, the whole of Carmarthenshire are left with the 'context' as determined and controlled by the very councils who should be open to public scrutiny and who are so obviously reluctant to allow that to happen, and who continue to give the impression rightly or wrongly, that they have something to hide. As I have pointed out many times the minutes of county council meetings are 'selective', often inaccurate and not subject to adequate review prior to approval. In other words, 'doctored'. If the County Council decides to record it's meetings we are again at the mercy of public image 'editing', it is essential that, alongside webcasting or whatever mode it may or may not use, the public are freely afforded the chance to record meetings as a proper balance, nothing less than complete openness should be, or will be, tolerated. It's unlikely that there will be an enormous rush by members of the public to record the deliberations of our town and community councils, but the principle needs to be established that if they want to, they can.

Carmarthenshire Election Results

Well, I didn't win the election, and for the record, veteran sitting councillor Tom Theophilus had 307 votes, I had 264 and the Tory candidate had 136. I am very grateful for all the support I have had both locally and online and there's always next time. Naturally, I shall be back in the public gallery at the next meeting of full council. Onwards and upwards.

The overall results are disappointing to say the very least, I have not digested the full implications but Plaid have 29 seats, Labour and Meryl's Independents 22 seats apiece; fortunately Cllr Sian Caiach (People First) was returned to provide one challenging voice in the Chamber, sadly Arthur Davies and Marion Binney will now not be joining her. Meryl Gravell squeezed back in and Pam Palmer, Kevin Madge, and most of the usual suspects were returned. I suppose Meryl and Madge may form  another coalition and we'll be back where we started, or maybe Plaid will strike a deal. With the independents losing eleven seats to Labour, I imagine the phones will be buzzing over the bank holiday. Unbelievably, Ivor Jackson was also returned back in Llandovery.
If this is democracy then I despair.

Prior to the count I was highly amused to be approached by Pam Palmer herself who seemed to be trying to make overtures in the event of my success - what was she thinking?! She also said that there was no need to mention this on my blog. Naturally I assured her I wouldn't. Sorry Pam, couldn't resist it.
I decided against sharing the stage with the Chief Executive/Returning Officer Mark James for the Cilycwm results but came back into the hall in time to see a triumphant Kevin Madge (Garnant ward) waving his arms around, fortunately victory speeches weren't allowed and we were spared his usual endless drone of tributes.

As I was leaving I saw the Director of Education (not quite sure why he was there), Mr Robert Sully warmly congratulating Cllr Theophilus on his success, no doubt delighted to have his continuing, undying support of the closure of Pantycelyn School, Llandovery. I have no doubt that he gave Cllr Jackson a big hug too.

I assume Plaid Cymru will attempt to gain some power, it's the best we can hope for under the circumstances but I am sure the senior management of the council will be relieved that the status quo is almost intact and they, rather than the councillors can continue to run the show; the white elephants can relax and the questionable spending decisions remain unchallenged. The dire budget cuts can be nodded through with no elections to fret about and it will be left to a couple of bloggers to keep an eye on things.
Commiserations to all those candidates who stood with the noble intentions of making a difference in Carmarthenshire, don't give up, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

For now, and for your information, here's the full results from the council website (now including Town and Community Councils);
http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/english/council/electionsandvoting/pages/electionresults2012.aspx

5th May; With the political horse trading underway, today's Evening Post reports on the possible shifting of power within the council; http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Carmarthenshire-Council-Coalition-change-shape/story-16010608-detail/story.html whatever happens I daresay it will be a case of same horse, different jockey. I would, of course, be happy to be proved wrong.

Here is Mr James..er..congratulating Meryl; or as Labour leader, Cllr Kevin Madge has described them, the 'dream team'.

(photo via Evening Post website)

Ivor goes to vote....

Council Chair Ivor Jackson goes to vote........

Double yellows?...on a junction?.....perhaps he can't afford the parking charges in Llandovery......

Carmarthenshire Council Elections - a reminder

Just a reminder to the electors of Carmarthenshire to please pop out and vote tomorrow. I am, of course, standing for Cilycwm ward and will find out on Friday whether I shall be in the Chamber or back to being locked in the public gallery at the next council meeting. I do not think this is the time to air my opinions on the tactics of opposing candidates although I believe there has been something of a campaign by one of them, as a puppet of the ruling Independents, to keep me out of County Hall. There is plenty of time for all that though, after the results.

I shall be at the count on Friday and hope that the results will bring an end to the Meryl and Madge fiasco which has dominated Carmarthenshire Council for the past umpteen years. A fiasco which has led to a systematic erosion of democracy through their continual unquestioning lap-dog support of unelected senior officers, to put it bluntly.

The cabinet system is not conducive to healthy debate at the best of times, and the senior management of Carmarthenshire Council along with the Executive Board have manipulated this to the nth degree resulting in a virtual dictatorship. Even minority voices amongst the back-bench councillors have been subdued by the recent insistence that motions to full council are accompanied by seven seconders.  As for public opinion and opposition, it is (at best) completely ignored and at worst, vilified as 'unfortunate', 'misleading' or 'lacking common sense' to give just three recent examples. Carmarthenshire needs, a strong contingent of vociferous and determined back benchers, as well as a new Executive Board who's loyalties lie with the residents rather than the unelected officers and who, it has to be said, will welcome the observing public rather than locking them up.

As the council themselves were so fond of saying over the closure of Pantycelyn School; "the status quo is not an option" - please bear this general thought in mind when you vote tomorrow. Another five years of the same nonsense and old boy cronyism doesn't bear thinking about, it's time to move on.

Carmarthenshire Council and the Towy Community Church on BBC Dragon's Eye

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that I have followed the relationship between Carmarthenshire Council and the small evangelical organisation, the Towy Community Church for the past couple of years. I do not want to repeat everything I have said and will provide some links at the end of this post. The main concern has been the readiness of the council to promise £1.4m of public money to fund a bowling alley, auditorium (a church), debt counselling etc to a group with links (now removed) to the discredited Mercy Ministries who advocated, amongst other dubious treatments, exorcism for anorexia. They had planned to establish a Mercy Ministry in Carmarthen. The council have cut funding to secular organisations including Citizen's Advice and yet have funded an organisation who use an evangelical umbrella debt service, Christians Against Poverty who themselves were recently dropped by Advice UK (again secular) who felt that proselytising through offering prayer as part of the service was not compatible with their constitution.

A public body such as the council has a duty to operate with a strong ethos of equality; their 'partners' the Towy Community Church, which comes under the umbrella of the Evangelical Alliance, have a rather different view of 'equality', with many similarities to the more extreme evangelical organisations one finds in the USA.

Much of the council decision making has been taken behind closed doors and tonight, Dragon's Eye attempted to get some answers. I have also tried to get some answers and await a reply from the Wales Audit Office who I contacted back in February.

Dragon's Eye asked to speak to the Leader of the Council Cllr Meryl Gravell, she would not return their calls (she publicly, and worryingly, stated that she hoped this organisation would ease the pressure on the social care budget), Plaid Cymru council leader, Peter Hughes Griffiths and Kevin Madge, Labour leader, also refused to be interviewed. The Chief Executive, Mark James, joined with the council leaders who approved the funding by stating 'it would not be appropriate to comment on this matter during the local elections', I am not sure why, I would have thought some clarity over questionable council spending decisions would be exactly what the electorate would want - but perhaps, rather like the Taro 9 programme concerning abuse in a council run care home, we would not like what they had to say, and no amount of spin would make it sound better.
The Pastor of the church, Mark Bennett also declined to comment.
Cllr Sian Caiach, who opposed the funding did express her concerns, as did Angela Burns AM who mentioned the recent AWEMA scandal and the necessity for open scrutiny.

I have always felt, after researching the issues as best as one can given the secretive nature of the council, that there was something distinctly odd about the relationship between the council and the Towy Community Church, and despite being subjected to a mild threat from a Mr Jim Stewart from the Evangelical Alliance, I continue to have serious concerns. Other more mainstream churches throughout the county, who also offer community services have not been as fortunate when it comes to council funding and struggle to survive. As I witnessed at the council meeting where the last round of funding was approved, despite the admitted risk to public money; budget savings of £8m necessary; public criticism in the press; and the ethical questions publicly exposed, there was almost unanimous support from officers and members alike. Odd, to say the least.

BBC iPlayer; http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01g8gkc/Dragons_Eye_19_04_2012/
BBC article; Towy Community Church; Unison and politicians funding concerns

http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/towy-community-church-and-full-council.html
http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/council-churchand-more-on-exempt-items.html
http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/council-works-in-mysterious-ways.html
http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/towy-community-church-declarations-of.html
http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/few-thoughtswhile-its-quiet.html
(please use the searchbox on the right for further posts)

Meryl and the Election Bandwagon

With a spectacular piece of election bandwagon jumping, Council Leader Meryl Gravell has announced that if her administration returns to power (god forbid) they will pilot the webcasting of council meetings, I wonder how her buddy Cllr Pam Palmer and leader of the 'Independent group' is coping with the idea, she didn't even want audio recordings. Strangely, there was no mention of this on the agenda for the Exec Board meeting where Meryl made her announcement, perhaps it came under 'urgent election business', still, she slipped it in somehow. It would seem that webcasting, currently being looked at by a group of councillors (for nearly a year) has been deliberately postponed until after the election. Still, both the Lib Dems and Plaid have said similar and I am pleased it is still on the cards. There is a possibility, of course, that I myself might be there to put my two pennyworth in (have been very busy canvassing by the way), whatever happens I shall also be watching to see whether an attempt to ban filming by the public is quietly dropped in during the AGM constitution tweaking. Perhaps she might like to jump on another bandwagon and promise that her administration will reverse their other decision to fund the Chief Executive's libel case, which would possibly leave enough cash to pay for webcasting for the next twenty years.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Leader-s-vow-trial-council-meeting-filming/story-15847807-detail/story.html
(I was asked for my views, which appear in the article)

Update 20th July; Article in theWestern Mail; http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/04/20/pledge-to-allow-filming-at-council-which-had-a-blogger-arrested-91466-30796618/

Another libel case against Carmarthenshire County Council

I can confirm that two residents of Carmarthenshire, Mrs P Breckman and Mr E Roberts have issued libel proceedings in the High Court against Carmarthenshire County Council in relation to their entry on the Persistent Complainants Register.

For obvious reasons I will not be publishing any comments on this post.

Plaid Cymru back an Independent candidate?

According to fellow local candidate, Cllr Tom Theophilus, Plaid Cymru have not put a candidate forward in this ward as they are perfectly happy with him and hope he will continue; they are entitled to their opinion of course. So, are Plaid actively hoping he'll win? Surely they wouldn't endorse another candidate, particularly one so loyal to the current ruling Independent Party, I thought Plaid were in opposition? 

This is what he says in his leaflet;

"The Llandovery and District branch of Plaid Cymru would like to declare that they had no input with the nomination of Plaid candidate to stand at the May 3rd election, confirming they are satisfied with the services given by Tom over the last 36 years to the above communities and wish it to continue"

I'd be interested to hear from Plaid.

UPDATE 14th April; I have now heard from the Plaid Cymru office who have issued this immediate response;

A spokesperson for Plaid Cymru said:

"A candidate for Plaid Cymru was due to contest the election in the Cilycwm Ward up until a few weeks ago when the candidate had to withdraw for personal reasons.  Plaid Cymru only endorses candidates for election to Carmarthenshire County Council who stand in the name of Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales"


As there is not a Plaid candidate standing, it appears that Cllr Theophilus is trying to obtain the votes of Plaid supporters by claiming he was backed, in some way, by the party. This is clearly wrong and I hope Plaid insist he withdraws this statement as a matter of urgency and in fairness to the other candidates.

Incidentally, there is another statement in Cllr Theophilus' leaflet, unrelated to the above, which is currently being investigated by the Police.

Wales Audit Office and libel costs

Whilst I await a response from the Wales Audit Office to my concerns about the council's involvement with the Towy Community Church, I am reminded of a comment made in 2008 by the WAO in relation to Carmarthenshire Council's amendment to the constitution to instigate and fund libel proceedings on behalf of officers. This is what they said;

"Given the potential financial implications of such a course of action we would expect the Council to inform us that such proceedings were being initiated to allow us to review and monitor the situation closely as part of our external audit function"

So, are they aware of the current situation? And are they living up to their corporate promise of "Making Public Money Count"?

http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/indemnities.html

'Twitter's not a good thing for politics' says Cllr Kevin Madge

As election fever continues apace here in Carmarthenshire (well, sort of) and Caebrwyn's posters, carefully laminated with sellotape withstand the weather and the opposition, some interesting statements are emerging. You may remember the twitter row, covered by Cneifiwr's blog, where a Labour candidate, Shahid Hussein was reprimanded over offensive tweets. Each party duly condemned his actions but the most worrying comment came from Labour leader, (and deputy leader of the council), Kevin Madge, hoping for re-election himself;

"I have pointed out to him that Twitter is dangerous and it's not something I support. I don't use it and I do not want any of our political candidates to use it - it's only young people and not a good thing to use for politics"
(Carmarthen Journal)

Oh dear. No, perhaps not for Mr Hussein at the moment and I can't imagine how Mr Madge would fit enough tributes to Leader Meryl and the Chief Exec into 140 characters. For the rest of the modern world, including politicians, and despite the occassional hiccup, it works just fine. Let's hope, if re-elected he's not given responsibility for 'Modernising Local Government', currently held by the equally inappropriate Cllr Pam Palmer.
(Cllr Madge may be interested to know his comments have provided some amusement on twitter today, he's even been compared to late Mary Whitehouse)

Looks like Cilycwm may have it's own election row brewing as news is reaching me that one of my opponents in the election, (the current Councillor) Tom Theophilus is resorting to desperate measures by referring to myself, in less than complimentary terms, in his election leaflet. I also hear that he has come up with some legal jargon about something or other 'being disclosed in the public interest'. After having been, er,  represented by Cllr Theophilus for 30 years, I find his sudden acquisition of fine legal knowledge and judgement puzzling, perhaps he's had help from somewhere. More to follow.

Little boxes (Part 2)

Readers may remember my recent efforts to extract the expenses details of thirteen senior officers from a reluctant Carmarthenshire council. A contorted refusal was issued on the grounds that to retrieve the information would exceed the cost limit. An internal review yielded a similar reply (don't they always?) The council's response was also late, exceeding the legal time limit. The WhatDoTheyKnow link to the full thread of the request is here.

I took my complaint to the ICO who decided that, given the council's present 'system', it would exceed the cost limit to  provide the information. The full response will be on the ICO website soon and I will provide a link for those who wish to view the details, there were issues concerning the 'legibility of the handwriting' and whether the forms were at 'the front of a box or at the back of a box', you get my drift.

The ICO did find against the council for their late response.

The council had offered to disclose a sprinkling of details which had been logged here and there through the ResourceLink system. I didn't make a request for this as I wanted all the information, not part of it, to be made public. I may request this in the future.

As I said after the intial refusal, the information is stored in various boxes under a dickensian filing system scattered around County Hall, reminiscent of my trek through the corridors of County Hall to view the dusty ledgers of the Members' register of interest closely chaperoned by the Head of 'democratic' services (see The Sacred Parchments) My request for the register of officer's interests also required a nudge from the ICO to the Council; the nudge produced an extra 51 pages which had been 'overlooked' during my initial request and the internal review, 46 of those pages concerned the Chief Executive.

The Council needs to understand that, despite efforts by the Tory government to restrict the use of FoI (by, for example, trying to charge for requests), it's not going to go away. The archaic 'systems', the secretive attitude and selective disclosure to avoid bad press, all needs addressing and kicking into the present day. It's about time the senior management of this council realised that there's a general public out there paying their wages, who would like to know and have every right to know, not only how their money is spent but what hidden 'extras' they are paying for too.

Candidate List - Carmarthenshire Council

http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/English/council/electionsandvoting/Documents/spnCOUNTY.pdf

With every seat contested it looks like an interesting election ahead. Pleased to see four standing against Meryl Gravell, and three trying to oust ex-chairman Ivor Jackson.

As for me in the Cilycwm ward, my two opponents are the current veteran councillor, Tom Theophilus and a Tory.

I am also a candidate for the Llanwrda Community Council, there are only three of us, and eight seats. I was going to put a link to the full Carmarthenshire Community Councillor candidate list until I noticed that the majority of the candidates were listed as 'electrical retailers' - maybe Currys have planned a coup to take over Carmarthenshire's parishes....? (this list has now been removed from the Council website...and will hopefully be corrected. Just as well these elections aren't held very often...)

Update 10th April - List of Community Council Candidates now back up, electrical retailers reduced to one; http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/English/council/electionsandvoting/Documents/spncommunitya.pdf )

12th April - list of uncontested Town and Community Councils and those elected; http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/English/council/electionsandvoting/Documents/uncontestedresults.pdf

Y Cneifiwr is busy providing his readers with a remarkably accurate ward-by-ward analysis, the first instalment is here; Those County Council elections - Y Cneifiwr looks at the form
...and the second instalment, equally perceptive, can be found here; Council election tour - Carmarthen to Glanaman where you will of course, find a brief but interesting stop at Cilycwm...
and the third leg, from Gorslas to Laugharne....4th.....Llandeilo to Llansteffan

STOP PRESS....CARMARTHENSHIRE COUNCIL BRINGS BACK HANGING....I am a bit concerned to read in a forthcoming council report that a "new and fun" element; a 'life-sized gallows" has been added to the tourist centre in the walls of County Hall...presumably to cut out the expense and bother of calling the police  to deal with members of the public with 'camera-phones'.....

Transparency debate back at the Senedd...and an AM insults of the people of Wales!

Interesting debate a couple of weeks ago in a plenary session at the Senedd concerning local government transprency, essentially the filming of meetings, by the public, and publication of spending details. As my name cropped up several times in the transcript, I watched the whole thing on Senedd TV. Two AMs, Janet Finch-Saunders and Suzy Davies, presented very good, and very well argued cases for both, I was quite impressed;

"...Last year, we were all horrified by the images of Jacqui Thompson being handcuffed and marched to a police car. She was then detained at the police station for two hours. Her crime was to film a public meeting of Carmarthenshire council on her camera phone. A flat ban on the filming of public council meetings is hardly in the spirit of openness and transparency. Given the lack of consistent publication of council expenditure, filming council meetings may be the only way for some council tax payers to get timely information about how their local authority is spending their money....."

"...As there is, perhaps understandably, little appetite among councils to broadcast their meetings, and the Minister is not minded to place a statutory obligation upon them to do so, filming by citizen commentators seems to be the most sensible approach. We should not be dragging away the Jacqui Thompsons of this world in handcuffs; we should be supporting and encouraging them..."

Here's a link to the archived meeting if you want to watch the debate, scroll along to 2 hours 18 minutes in; http://www.senedd.tv/archiveplayer.jsf?v=en_100002_21_03_2012&t=0&l=en 


As I have said, perhaps I am naive but I do not understand why any of this is a party political matter, I am aware that it forms part of Eric Pickle's transparency agenda but surely it should be cross party? Or is that impossible in politics these days? To be fair, I see that the Plaid manifesto for Carmarthenshire has "allowing filming and recording of council meetings" as a 'principle it will adhere to when implementing policy', they also promise to get rid of the Carmarthenshire News; I think they recognise the value of transparency. It goes without saying that these issues, including stamping out spin, also form part of Caebrwyn's election manifesto too and no, I'm not a 'closet' anything.

I am not sure where the Labour party stands on this, at the same plenary meeting there was a shocking statement from Jenny Rathbone AM, who obviously believes that the Welsh people are too thick to understand anything more complicated than tabloid headlines;

"..I am saying that, in order to be accountable, information has to be presented in a format that is understandable to people. You have to bear in mind that most people need it in the format that is presented by the The Sun or the Daily Mirror, because if you simply present it as closely written lines along the lines of what The Times newspaper used to look like, people will not read it and will not be any further along in understanding what their council is up to..."

What a patronising statement, it beggars belief that an Assembly Member can stand up in the Senedd and calmly insult the intelligence of the people of Wales.

The Minister, Carl Sargeant again stays on the fence, reluctant to be seen to 'micromanage' local authorities. As you may be aware there is another pressing issue which should be troubling the Minister, something which could cost the Carmarthenshire taxpayer dear, so perhaps he should be wondering just how far certain local authorities are prepared to go to stifle local government transparency...and come off that fence.

The Council, Twitter and Spin

I was almost heartened to see this promising tweet from the Council press office on Friday;

"@CarmsCCPress.....making real efforts to improve communication on social networks, feedback and questions welcome"

So, today, I asked a few reasonable questions via Twitter;

 - can you tell me where I can find the latest agenda and miutes for the #carmarthenshire Local Service Board please?


 - I seem to be unable to leave comments on the council facebook page - this does not 'improve communication', please rectify


 - how much revenue is raised towards the Carmarthenshire News through private sector advertising?


 - Your twitter account does not appear to follow any residents of #carmarthenshire other than journalists, why is this?


 - anyone there?

then I had a response;

@caebrwyn sorry we don't have staff resources to respond to all comments on FB, please contact carmarthenshiredirect@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

I am not sure if they knew whether they were on Facebook or Twitter or were referring to my FB comment. Anyway, I replied;

not all comments require response - but I am sure #carmarthenshire council values residents' opinions, please enable comments [actually, on closer inspection, it seems it could be just Caebrwyn who can't comment]

No response. But during this brief, half an hour long, one way conversation, reminiscent of the #pambot fiasco the press office managed to find the 'staff resources' to publish eight press releases on the council website - I mentioned it;

@CarmsCCPress you do have the staff resources to publish 8 press releases on your website today though?

...but again, no response. Perhaps I'll try again tomorrow. I have to conclude that there must have been a youngster there on work experience last Friday, monitoring the press office 'social networking' skills, who made the unforgivable error of 'engaging' with the rabble. It will be interesting to see if any 'new' councillors decide to tweet from the Chamber after May 3rd. (This debate still rumbles around the UK, interesting blogpost here from journalist @davidhiggerson)

The council seems to be pretty keen these days to emphasise that the awful council rag, the Carmarthenshire News is a by-product the Local Service Board (LSB). The LSB of course is another talking shop for senior managers and officials of the said same council this time with the police, health board etc execs thrown in  who meet, apparently, every two months. And, judging by the content of the Community News, each separate Department of Spin and Waste is tasked with contributing a 'good news' article, regardless to accuracy (and, I am sure, approved by County Hall) and coughing up a few quid for the privilege.

We don't know what they talk about as there are no agendas or minutes being published.

Set up a couple of years ago through Welsh Government funding to streamline the delivery of services through the collaboration of executive managers....blah blah blah... Not surprisingly, a quick glimpse at the LSB website suggests that churning out spin is as important to the LSB as it is to the council, and, judging by the entire content, style and tone, funding propaganda is number one priority. It features 'LSB TV', clearly the renamed 'Carmarthen TV', a project I thought was long forgotten, and the website itself is like a mini version of the council's, with even more broken links and no useful information whatsoever.

Older readers may remember the furore about the proposed 'Carmarthen TV' internet channel a couple of years ago (2009), (don't confuse it with any attempt to film meetings!) which naturally involved exempt reports etc which, as I pointed out at the time (including here ), hardly needed the executive rubber stamp and promise of cash, as it had all been decided several months previously at a LSB meeting. Questions were raised in the Senedd about whether this was appropriate use of funds, apparently it wasn't, but, as we know, Carmarthenshire council takes a dim view of such advice. I had a quick look at a couple of the barely functioning, and ageing videos, I didn't last long, the Leader, the Chief Executive and an Executive from Simons Group - the "key players" of the regeneration programme for Carmarthen were 'interviewed' by two school pupils (who, I add, were fine presenters).  As you can imagine it was painful viewing, peppered with adverts for Debenhams, Frankie and Benny's, New Look etc etc - I didn't make it to the end....The whole thing definitely had nothing to do with improving the lot of the ordinary resident; the stated (sort of) aims of the LSB.

The situation is getting worse, the council's priority for image and press control, whether it be through their own press office which is mysteriously incorporated into their own company SirgarPR; their ban on staff talking to the press without prior approval and a chaperone; or the more sinister invasion of our own local independent press by County Hall, has to be brought to an end.
'Non-Statutory services', we are told, such as public toilets, museums and post-16 school transport are eligible for the chop - So where does that leave the endless stream of misinformation and patronising PR seeping from all corners of County Hall...."statutory" and top priority! according to the council....

I'm a Candidate!

I am now officially an independent candidate for the County Council elections on May 3rd! I handed in my nomination papers this morning at County Hall, they were validated and signed off by the Returning Officer. The Notice of Election was published yesterday and the deadline for handing in nominations is noon on the 4th April, the full list of candidates will be published on or before the 10th April. I will then know who I'm up against.

Previous post; Election

AM requests Sainsburys application call-in

A call-in request has been made to the Welsh Government concerning the proposed Sainsbury store in Llandeilo by William Powell, Lib Dem Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales. As I said in this post, this application is due to be considered by Carmarthenshire Council Planning Committee meeting on Thursday (29th March);

(I have copied the text here for clarity)

E/25041: Proposed Sainsbury Store at Llandeilo – Call in request

     Following an extensive planning period Carmarthenshire County Council will consider the above application on Thursday 29th March, 2012. Since the plans were originally made public it is clear that the case being presented has changed substantially, and as such the development’s numerous objectors have only been given three working days to consider their response and how the proposal will impact the local area. This is unacceptable and I am formally requesting the calling in of the application by your office, in order for it to be given the full oversight and consideration it requires.
     As the Carmarthenshire County Council Planning Committee Report makes clear, the current proposals represent a significant departure from planning guidance E7 and R7 and in doing so clearly states that “the proposal would conflict with development plan policy in respect [to] loss of employment land and the site’s position relative to the town centre.”
     While this conflict, and the lack of time made available for public exploration of the amended application, should be enough to justify a call in alone; I am also deeply concerned about the cumulative retail impact of related proposals to the sounding area. The Llandeilo proposal must be considered in tandem with further proposed Sainsbury’s superstores in Ammanford and Cross Hands. Given the perilous condition of rural market towns across Wales it is essential that any and all applications be considered with respect to the need to sustain small businesses and the health and viability of town centres. As such wider questions must be asked about the regional impact of these cumulative proposals and whether the damage done to, and jobs lost from small businesses as a result, outweighs the potential benefits of periphery development E/25041.

     Furthermore, the lack of time afforded to existing and other potential objectors has not allowed sufficient resources to be devoted to a full and comprehensive environmental assessment of how the amended proposal impacts on the surrounding Afon Tywi flood-plain. It is clear that any developments on such plains must benefit from a full and proper analysis, and that the Carmarthenshire County Council Planning Committee Report highlights the fact that the proposal is yet to receive a formal response from the Countryside Council for Wales. It is of principal importance that development decisions be taken with full respect given to their potential impact on biodiversity and the wider ecological impact upon the surrounding environment. It is clear that this has yet to fully occur in this case.
     Taken together it is clear that further work needs to be done to ensure that the people of Llandeilo get the best possible solution for their needs. While it is apparent that Carmarthenshire County Council is minded to accept the current proposal, I argue the necessity for calling in so that time is allowed for critics to fully respond, and that a complete picture is gained of how to best benefit the area.

Regards
William Powell AM

CC:
John Griffiths AM
Kirsty Williams AM
Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM
Jonathan Edwards MP

Update 29th March; I hear that both the Llandeilo and the Cross Hands stores were approved by the planning committee today.
I also understand that the application for Llandeilo may be referred to the Welsh Assembly anyway as it is a departure from policy (E7 and R7) and comes under the criteria of the 'Shopping Directive' for retail developments and so must be referred.

Y Cneifiwr - on the Delyth Jenkins case

A must read post on the Delyth Jenkins case from Y Cneifiwr;

"...Whereas the council could have co-operated with the BBC, apologised for what happened in Johnstown, explained what measures it has taken to ensure there is no repetition and gone out of it's way to reassure the public, it acted instead like a dodgy builder, effectively shouting abuse at the camera before speeding off in a white van, door slamming shut..."

Please read the full post here;

Abuse of adults in Council Care - what has the Council learned?

(previous posts include; http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/well-done-delyth-jenkins.html)


update 27th March; another post from Y Cneifiwr; Abuse of vulnerable adults and "erroneous" press reports 

'Draft Code of Corporate Governance' and it's not even April 1st yet

The Council's Audit Committee is meeting next week, it's been six months since the last meeting so there should be plenty to scrutinize although, as it's not a scrutiny committee it's doubtful. The agenda doesn't look very inspiring so we can just hope that some of the more controversial spending decisions, such as the Towy Community Church, and others, are questioned and will pop up in the minutes. (I am still waiting for a response from the Wales Audit Office to my complaint about the council's involvement with the Towy Church, see previous posts)

Under the 2011 Local Government Measure the Audit Committee now has responsibility to approve a 'Draft Code of Corporate Governance' which appears on the agenda. Up until now, the annual monitoring of whether the council is behaving itself and has been meeting the aspirations of the public and staff has been the responsibility of the Glorious Leader and the Chief Executive.
There are of course multiple codes and protocols which, often required by legislation or guidance, are supposed to provide a system of standards under which a council operates, the trouble with such lists of churned out promises is, that without adequate avenues for complaint, redress or any accountability whatsoever, they are ignored and breached.
As we also know, these codes are merely jargon filled paper exercises, enabling the Authority to tick the relevant boxes whilst an entirely different situation occurs in the real and bizarre world of Carmarthenshire Council senior management.

Although it seems someone is having a laugh, as the meeting is not scheduled for April 1st we must assume it is to be taken seriously.
Let's see a few examples of where there may be difficulties, bearing in mind numerous matters reported on this blog, (too many to link to. Please have a browse, though you'll need plenty of time, perhaps the Delyth Jenkins story would be a good place to start).
To be frank, even by Carmarthenshire's standards, I have not read such complete b******s for quite a while;

"The Council sees Corporate Governance as “doing the right things, in the right way, for the right people in a timely, inclusive, open, honest and accountable manner

Promoting values for the authority and demonstrating the values of good governance through upholding high standards of conduct and behaviour...ensure that members and officers exercise leadership by behaving in ways that exemplify high standards of conduct and effective governance...requiring the authority’s leadership to set a tone for the organisation by creating a climate of openness, support and respect..

taking informed and transparent decisions....

...use its legal powers to the full benefit of the citizens and communities in their areas...actively recognising the limits of lawful activity due to, for example, the ultra vires doctrine...recognising the limits of lawful action and observing both the specific requirements of legislation and the general responsibilities placed on authorities by public law....

engaging with local people and other stakeholders to ensure robust public accountability....

...exercise leadership through a robust scrutiny function which effectively engages local people and all local institutional stakeholders, including partnerships, and develops constructive accountability relationships considering those institutional stakeholders [what?!] to whom the authority is accountable....

holding meetings in public unless there are good reasons for confidentiality....

ensuring that the authority as a whole is open and accessible to the community, service users and our staff, and that it has made a commitment to openness and transparency in all its dealings, including partnerships..."

We will endeavour that this document will be accepted, stamped, approved blah blah and then popped in a drawer to gather dust in County Hall for all eternity. (I have added this bit)

What a complete joke.

Kerching for Sainsburys!

Sainsburys look likely to make out like bandits at next week's Planning Committee meeting with two supermarkets recommended for approval, one at Cross Hands (as part of a council led 'mixed-use' project) and the other, of course, less than ten miles away, in the small market town of Llandeilo. A third application for an even larger store submitted by TRJ Ltd (and without a named retailer but with 'indicative plans based on a Morrisons design') in Ammanford is recommended for refusal.

Opinions are divided on the Llandeilo Sainsburys with, as you can imagine, local traders up in arms but local shoppers welcoming an alternative to the smaller, expensive Co-op stores currently in the locality, personally I don't feel strongly either way. What interests me is the process. Yet again our old consultant friends Atkins and Nathaniel Lichfield Partnership have done well out of the schemes with NLP acting as 'independent' advisors to the Council - these consultancies, including White Young Green Plc pop up all over the UK as either advisers to councils, or the usual giant retailers/developers, depending on which of their particular hats they are wearing.

The figures are odd to say the least with the prediction that both Llandovery and Llandeilo town centres will only suffer a 3% loss in trade and it will be supermarkets from further afield which lose out, this is clearly a tried and tested NLP ploy. In reality, I imagine that nearly everyone in this large rural area will flock to Sainsburys for food, petrol and whatever else they will sell. Part of the agreement is for them to provide a shuttle bus, via the train station, between the town centre and the store, which far from ensuring a thriving town centre and 'reducing congestion', will more than likely just shuttle everyone to Sainsburys. The store will also provide a base for online order deliveries further reducing anyone's need to visit the local greengrocer. And, of course, all the money spent in the store will go straight out of Wales.

With recent revelations of wealth influencing policy (which should come as no surprise as this has gone on since time immemorial at every level of government - what I did find odd was that the Tories should have employed such pompous oaf, behaving like a schoolground show-off, in such a trusted position, but perhaps that a requirement for the job...) I see the planning officer's report begins "taken literally, the proposal would conflict with development plan policy" (the site is supposed to be for employment rather than retail, and it is 'out of town') and then there's the 'but', and with careful manipulation of policy and figures the scheme is perfectly acceptable even to the statement that an enormous grey steel clad shed will 'not have an unacceptable impact on the surrounding rural landscape'. Another argument put forward by NLP is that as Sainsburys do not currently have a foothold in Carmarthenshire it's about time they did (or in so many words).

I would imagine that refusing the scheme will not be an option for the planning committee as they will be warned that Sainsburys will have plenty of cash ready to fight an appeal and will be armed with a favourable officer report and, as usual, objectors will be deemed as 'standing in the way of progress'. Whether or not the Llandeilo store will be popular with shoppers is not a material planning consideration and if the recommendation for approval is based on questionable figures then the committee have a duty to look further than the end of their noses.

They may also remember that this site was one selected by Atkins as suitable for the new superschool to replace Pantycelyn and Tregib, and then, for various reasons, it wasn't, as the council wanted the Ffairfach site. The reasons it was deemed unsuitable were;
1)  Green field site
2)  Poor connectivity
3)  Cost of bridge over A40
4)  Increase in bus and private vehicle travel
5)  High noise level from A40
6)  Puts infrastructure constraints on the site
7)  Detrimental impact on visual amenity
8)  Significant adverse ecological impacts
9)  High visibility from road
10) Lack of pedestrian links to the site

Clearly, as I predicted, it's all a bit different for Mr Sainsbury.

The reports and documents associated with the three applications are extensive and cover many issues which I do not have either the room nor the inclination to cover here, but for those of you interested in the contentious nature of supermarket planning applications it will be an interesting read.
(Llandeilo; Cross Hands; Ammanford)

Taro 9 - Delyth Jenkins and Carmarthenshire Council

Further to my post Well done Delyth Jenkins, and as promised, here's a link to Tuesday's broadcast of Taro 9 on BBC iPlayer, English subtitles are available.

It lasts about half an hour, if you've got time, please watch it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00q8zdp/ 

Update 23rd March; Thanks to @hyweltedwards on Twitter I am now aware of a current consultation by the Welsh Government which ends on the 30th May 2012;

'Making things better - Review of Social Services complaints - we are asking whether the existing complaints processes should be updated or amended to meet the needs of service users'
Link here

Pity they've used the phrase 'service users' but the more that respond the more likely something will be done. Worth a try anyhow. As for Carmarthenshire Council, it's going to take a bit more than a Welsh Government consultation to sort that lot out, a Public Inquiry would be a start.