CCBC costs and cutting

[DaveR]

Is he serving it well though? I've never seen him in Llandudno and no-one I know ever mentions him.

What has he done about the Pier Pavilion site issue, surely Llandudno's biggest and most long running eyesore? I found a two sentence comment from him about it in an old newspaper article from years ago. That's the sum total of his work to sort it out.

Considering he earns £65k a year and collects £170k in Expenses, perhaps he could stir himself a little more out of Caernarfon occasionally?

[Greyhound]

Although I think he's a good MP and very responsive when you get in touch with him, I do agree that he should be a lot more of a doorstep campaigner. Pavement politics is important, especially somewhere like North Wales.

[norman08]

As dave says.   What has he done for Llandudno ,  he said he had to vote in the commons when they had the meetings for the beach ,he there for a photo, t hey are in it for what they can get ,£100 1st class at least from Bangor

[Ian]

Don't you think an MP should live in the Constituency that he serves? Mr Bebb lives in Caernarfon, I believe.

Not sure it's relevant that much in this day and age. But what about what he's saying?

[Ian]

Well, the Geraint James story has hit the BBC News:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-28415795

[DaveR]

Don't you think an MP should live in the Constituency that he serves? Mr Bebb lives in Caernarfon, I believe.

Not sure it's relevant that much in this day and age. But what about what he's saying?

I agree that what he's saying re CCBC is absolutely correct..

As far as living in the Constituency goes, I believe an MP needs to be out and about in the Community every day, not just holding formal sessions once a week etc. You might say that Mr Bebb doesn't want to move his children to Llandudno or doesn't wish to be bothered by his constituents all the time. I would suggest that no-one is forcing him to stand for MP and plenty of people more committed to the local area could do the job just as well. If he's happy to collect £200k+ a year from the taxpayer, then he could put a little more effort in maybe?

[Ian]

As far as living in the Constituency goes, I believe an MP needs to be out and about in the Community every day, not just holding formal sessions once a week etc.

I don't know, really. He'll always have a massive mailbag of complaints and questions from his constituents each day to get through, then there'll be party business, lobbying meetings, heaps of admin to do and that's all before House business. But I suppose you might have a point, in that he could be more geographically accessible.

[DaveR]

Denbighshire councillors reluctantly agree to back merger with Conwy
Published date: 10 September 2014 | Published by: Rebecca Cole

COUNCILLORS have reluctantly agreed to back plans to broach a voluntary merger with a neighbouring authority.

Members of Denbighshire Council followed the recommendation of chief executive Mohammed Mehmet to open talks with Conwy Council as the Welsh Government looks to reduce the number of local authorities in the country as part of its ‘reforming local government’ programme.

Mr Mehmet, reassured councillors any agreement would be dependent on both councils securing a "substantial financial and support package" from the Welsh Government which must be agreed to before proceeding.

Many councillors criticised the timing of the restructure claiming it would be a costly exercise when local councils were already battling huge budget cuts.

Mr Mehmet admitted a voluntary merger would not be easy but it had "potential positives" which could help lessen the blow.

However county councillor for Llangollen Stuart Davies warned Dee Valley residents would feel isolated and claimed many felt no connection to Conwy and favoured looking East to Wrexham, though he admitted his political views had not allowed him to support this view in the past.

"I always said we should stick to the status quo but we can't do that,” he explained.

"There are a lot of concerns about where these county councils are going to meet, for example where the buildings will be, and there's a lot of noise about looking towards Wrexham.

"I was against that ... however, with the thought of having to go to Conwy, we're going to be left out on a limb."

Mr Mehmet said the possibility of Denbighshire merging with Wrexham was unrealistic and the council eventually backed his recommendation that the authority express an interest in voluntarily merging with Conwy by April 2018 instead of waiting for a compulsory merger later on.

Cllr Hugh Evans, leader of the council, agreed he preferred the status quo and felt like the council’s back was “against the wall” but supported Mr Mehmet by saying a merger was inevitable and signing up on a voluntary rather than compulsory basis would be better for the county.

“It’s important we take control of our destiny and (a voluntary merger) is the right thing to do in my opinion,” he said.

A number of councillors also expressed concerns about the Welsh Government’s ability to help the council through a voluntary merger but Mr Mehmet suggested the two authorities combined had the potential of becoming the “powerhouse” of Wales by taking the lead.

http://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/138014/denbighshire-councillors-reluctantly-agree-to-back-merger-with-conwy.aspx

[Fester]

Those Councillors are simply making noises about protecting their own positions.
I can see NOTHING in that entire article about enhancing the service provision to those citizens who employ them, merely that they feel like they are having to merge at the point of a gun.

They also bleat on about it only happening if they secure a large financial package from the Welsh Assembly.
Presumably that will simply be to pay for THEIR cushy exit awards, or redundancies.

When, Oh when will these supposed ''public servants'' wake up and realise that these County Council mergers are about SAVING largesums of public money, not demanding more of it?

[Ian]

I found it quite an amusing article. One or two things sprang out:

Many councillors criticised the timing of the restructure claiming it would be a costly exercise when local councils were already battling huge budget cuts.

Never seemed to worry them last time, when the old counties were split up to make more and smaller councils which worked out costing significantly more than the old, much larger, bodies.

"I always said we should stick to the status quo but we can't do that,” he explained.

Sop nothing should change, then? Original take for any councillor.

with the thought of having to go to Conwy, we're going to be left out on a limb."

Pity there's no way to reach Conwy from the Dee valley.  What's that? Roads, you say? When were they constructed?

When, Oh when will these supposed ''public servants'' wake up and realise that these County Council mergers are about SAVING large sums of public money, not demanding more of it?

Never, I suspect.

[FatAndy]

with the thought of having to go to Conwy, we're going to be left out on a limb."

Pity there's no way to reach Conwy from the Dee valley.  What's that? Roads, you say? When were they constructed?

What the Councillor was saying is that people in Llangollen would prefer to be in the same county as Wrexham rather than get lumped in with Conwy.  I'm sure there's been a campaign in the past to get the town moved from Denbighshire into Wrexham County so this is nothing new.  It's an argument that makes complete sense as well.  It's about an hours drive each way from Llangollen to Conwy (the town) and by public transport the quickest route would be a bus to Ruabon and then a train to Conwy which would take about two hours each way and cost £25+ (unless you've got a bus pass).  In the organisation I work for whenever we get clients living in Llangollen we always refer them to our Wrexham office rather than our Denbighshire office (which is in Rhyl) and I'm sure lots of other places also effectively treat Llangollen as being in Wrexham county as well so why not make that official.

The other way to consider this is that if Llangollen was part of a merged Conwy/Denbighshire county then would you be happy to have to travel to Llangollen if for example you had to meet with a council officer?

[SteveH]

Extract....draft Welsh Government budget as axe falls on local government

"But the biggest overall loser was local government which has already been warned to expect a 4.5% cut and council leaders warned their cash-strapped authorities were at ‘tipping point’ after fresh £154m of cuts and ‘some services could disappear’ along with jobs."

“While council leaders understand the pressures being placed on the overall Welsh budget, many of the services that communities take for granted are now at risk, including leisure centres, libraries, community facilities and day centres. “Redundancies will unfortunately become unavoidable, and I fear for the future of services that provide critical support to the most vulnerable in the community.”
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/nhs-big-winner-draft-welsh-7862068

[DaveR]

I think that Councils deliberately cut frontline services, to protect their own cushy jobs. It's always interesting to see the very well paid jobs are advertised on the CCBC website at a time of apparent 'extreme austerity'. 

[Ian]

Here's an interesting quote:

"By its very nature local government is bound to provoke more complaints than central authorities. We believe that committee meetings should be open as of right as many councils are too secretive".

Made in May, 1966, by a front bench spokesman for Wilson's Government, it shows how far things have come since then...

[SteveH]

Here's an interesting quote:
"By its very nature local government is bound to provoke more complaints than central authorities. We believe that committee meetings should be open as of right as many councils are too secretive".
Made in May, 1966, by a front bench spokesman for Wilson's Government, it shows how far things have come since then...

I am not sure if it just me, but the few "open" web cam. meetings I have viewed, leave me non the wiser, when you take out the protocols, the thank you's, the references to files number this or that, he/she is following up on. etc. they are saying nothing, so I wonder if it would make much difference.

I think there must be a civil servant course in evasive dialogue... WWW