Following the announcement on Wednesday that chief executive Mark James is remaining in post for the time being, Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards has hit out and warned that Carmarthenshire is at risk of having a "zombie council".
Mr Edwards and AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas are quoted in the South Wales Guardian;
"Plaid Cymru has worked hard over the past two years to curb senior officer pay and to try and put a stop eye-watering golden goodbyes.
“The joint statement from the leaders of the Labour and Independent parties in Carmarthenshire, however, suggests they are happy for county taxpayers to continue to pay for one of Wales’s highest paid council officers.
"Carmarthenshire is at risk of having a zombie council.
“The Council is in desperate need of a political reboot.
AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas added: “In light of Pembrokeshire Council reducing the salary of its new chief executive by some £60,000, residents in Carmarthenshire will be wondering whether they are getting value for money by employing one of the highest paid officers in Wales despite him indicating his desire to leave the job.”
Full article here
To be honest, I think that transition to zombie council occurred quite some time ago.
Both politicians have been highly critical of the way the council is run over the past few years, and not just on a political level, Mr Edwards has previously described County Hall as a dictatorship. It was he who asked the police to investigate following the pension and libel indemnity scandals last year and also asked Mr James to repay the unlawful cash.
Mr Edwards and AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas are quoted in the South Wales Guardian;
"Plaid Cymru has worked hard over the past two years to curb senior officer pay and to try and put a stop eye-watering golden goodbyes.
“The joint statement from the leaders of the Labour and Independent parties in Carmarthenshire, however, suggests they are happy for county taxpayers to continue to pay for one of Wales’s highest paid council officers.
"Carmarthenshire is at risk of having a zombie council.
“The Council is in desperate need of a political reboot.
AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas added: “In light of Pembrokeshire Council reducing the salary of its new chief executive by some £60,000, residents in Carmarthenshire will be wondering whether they are getting value for money by employing one of the highest paid officers in Wales despite him indicating his desire to leave the job.”
Full article here
To be honest, I think that transition to zombie council occurred quite some time ago.
Both politicians have been highly critical of the way the council is run over the past few years, and not just on a political level, Mr Edwards has previously described County Hall as a dictatorship. It was he who asked the police to investigate following the pension and libel indemnity scandals last year and also asked Mr James to repay the unlawful cash.
2 comments:
Well, I for one do not understand how the current system can be allowed to stand. We have the Welsh Local Government Association conduct an investigation, and their findings are totally ignored. One wonders, if this is ok and something that can be permitted to continue, precisely what the point is of said Welsh Local Government Association...
It's a very tricky position, because ideally in a situation which has been allowed to decay to this point, you might think about getting rid of all the current petty excuses for councillors (with a few exceptions - Sian Caitch being high on that list). So we'd have an election - and then what? All the same people would get elected back in again...
To achieve anything at all, the voting public need to be brought up to speed - which to a degree the bloggers are doing, but their reach is not really up to a scale of this task... We really need the local press involved, but must of them are now trained poodles...
Another angle that needs to be considered is that the Labour Party should be made to realise that this shambles must not be allowed to continue, and that it is definitely going against their interests in the forthcoming general election. Forget the regional party - they're lost to reason - we need to get the national party to sit up and take notice of this.
At the end of the day, if this is how they are prepared to run the County, would any of us really think they deserve a chance to run the entire country???
In England, at least 3 not-fit-for-purpose councils (Rotherham, Doncaster and Tower Hamlets) have had teams sent in to take over from errant officers. The health service does the same with failing health authorities. The Education Department does it with failing schools.
What's the problem with doing that in Wales?
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