Thanet Labour Group News - Cabinet Overhaul

By Cllr Clive Hart - Labour Group Leader

 

Today I have announced changes to the Cabinet system at Thanet District Council (TDC) that will 'free up' leading council managers and officers time to concentrate on providing the very best service for local residents.

 

We inherited a Cabinet system from the previous Conservative administration at TDC that appeared clearly designed to fudge and confuse staff, councillors, the press and the public. Cabinet members with ridiculously patronizing titles, had portfolios that were all too often complicatedly entangled with many different business streams and departments of the council.

 

This was an incredibly wasteful use of valuable time and effort at TDC. Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet members had to spend enormous amounts of time speaking to a wide range of officers at the council and yet more worryingly, very highly paid leading officers of the council would spend hours going over the same matters time and time again.

 

I have therefore re-aligned the five Cabinet posts to directly correspond with the five business streams of the council and their five dedicated managers.

 

These changes, added to a number of initiatives that we have already introduced through our new Cabinet, will make matters at TDC more transparent and less confusing for everyone.

 

The new Cabinet roles which now directly relate to the existing council business streams will be:

 

Corporate & Regulatory Services        Cllr Clive Hart

 

Commercial Services                          Cllr Alan Poole

 

Community Services                           Cllr Iris Johnston

 

Business Services                               Cllr Michelle Fenner   

 

Financial Services                               Cllr Rick Everitt

New Thanet District Council Labour Cabinet - leading by example

Monday evening's extraordinary Thanet Council Cabinet was the first to take place since Labour gained control of Thanet District Council last week and immediately, there was a very different style and approach to matters.

 

The cabinet was made up of a group of three men and two women, an offer to include the two other political leaders in a fact finding mission was made, and on one particular item the whole cabinet team decided to visit the area concerned to gain in depth practical knowledge before making a decision.

 

Council Leader and Cabinet Chairman Cllr Clive Hart said:

 

"There are three very significant changes in the Labour teams approach to cabinet business.

 

Firstly, I'm delighted to be supported in our cabinet by two men and two women who each bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table. Just as importantly, every member of our cabinet is a 'hands-on' councillor with practical common sense and excellent interpersonal skills.

 

Secondly, whenever necessary, and as a team, we will go out into the community concerned to see and hear for ourselves exactly what the situation is 'on the ground'.

 

Lastly, whilst maintaining ultimate control over cabinet decisions, we will endeavor to include the leaders of the other two political groups in fact finding projects affecting the residents of Thanet.

 

Our approach will be as fair, open, transparent and inclusive as is practical and possible".

 

Note: At item 7 of Monday's Thanet Council Cabinet agenda, Proposed Development - Hartsdown and Tivoli Park. The cabinet team unanimously agreed to visit the site to see and hear pertinent matters regarding the proposal. The Leaders of the other two political groups were invited to join the site visit which will take place at 2pm on Thursday 22nd December.

4 P's and the SS

by Cllr.Clive Hart

After several weeks of 'navel gazing' the new 'themed' cabinet portfolio structure has now finally been imposed on Thanet Council by the Conservative leader Cllr Bayford. His announcement came last week, a month after the elections. Hardly hitting the ground running.  

 

Now Thanet Labour was most certainly 'on the ball'. 2011 saw a newly agreed staff structure at Thanet Council, and following the elections on May 5th the council had to decide on a cabinet and shadow cabinet to cover the newly configured organisation. We in the Labour Group met immediately to decide who should make up our cabinet/shadow team. For good measure, as group leader I also contacted the new Chief Executive to make sure that a five member cabinet, covering the five new business streams, would be appropriate. I was informed it would work well. Consequently, we in the Labour Group duly supplied the Council with our list of five councillors who would form either the cabinet or shadow cabinet, depending on the outcome of the Annual meeting. Job done and dusted and all before the council meeting itself. What could be simpler?

 

Surprisingly, on the day before the council AGM, I was informed that should the Conservative leader Cllr Bayford be elected leader of the council on the night, he would be staying with the old 'pre-restructure' portfolio roles. These in no way fitted the new TDC structure and I made it clear that this situation was absolutely ridiculous. The Tories reorganistional moves following the elections were clearly falling well behind schedule and at the Annual meeting we were forced to accept the Conservative leaders extremely muddled way forward. 

 

Then, in the first week of June, a whole month after the elections, Cllr Bayford announced more changes to his cabinet portfolios that now confuse matters still further. Not five cabinet members covering the five senior management roles and the five business streams, no that would be far too simple. For reasons only he could try to explain Cllr Bayford has gone for five cabinet members covering his four dreamt up 'themes' (People - Place - Prosperity - Performance) and a 'spare' member covering shared services.

 

So now cabinet and shadow cabinet members at Thanet Council have to liaise with up to three different leading officers to cover the scope of their work, and far more importantly, highly paid councillor officers have to liaise with several different councillors in order to cover Cllr Bayford's four new 'themes'. If there was ever a plan to waste time and confuse all who have to deal with the council, the new Conservative 'themes' led cabinet is it!

 

However, Thanet's residents can rest assured that our Labour shadow team will do all that is necessary to carry out our respective roles and hold the Tory cabinet to account.