Leader's Monthly Report (Norfolk County Council Liberal Democrats)

Norfolk County Council Liberal Democrats <info@norfolkcclibdems.org.uk>

Leader's Monthly Report

March 31, 2010 12:00 AM

It has been an interesting month. Increasingly it looks as if the Norwich Unitary will happen. The Conservatives showed their indifference by failing to support 'fatal motion' put down by the Liberal Democrat Peers. With both Houses of parliament having approved the Order, the chances of the Judicial Review overturning the legislative's views would seem slim. It also seems unrealistic that an incoming Tory Government would choose to find the time to reverse the decision. Norfolk without Norwich seems a remarkable concept, one which local Council Tax payers will have to pay for in the years ahead.

General Election 'fever' is all around us. It showed itself at the 22nd March full Council meeting where the behaviour of some councillors left a lot to be desired and the Chairman had to work too hard to maintain control. If the public were able to watch proceedings via the internet - one of our proposals - maybe councillors would focus more on the key issues.

We were pleased there is to be a proper consultation on the future of Wells field study centre - something Marie Strong has been campaigning for. On waste disposal the battle lines are being drawn for 'Contract B' where we will continue to oppose incineration.

The Conservatives have got themselves into an awful mess with their NorseCare proposals; Cabinet Scrutiny requested Cabinet follow due process and ask the views of the Adult Social Services Overview & Scrutiny panel before it went any further. Amazingly the proposals had not been to the panel before going to cabinet, and the Cabinet member compounded his error by giving different messages as to why this had happened. They are also in a 'pickle' over their plans to contract out the management of the Western half of the County Farm estate to an external provider, whilst leaving Norfolk Property Services to manage the remainder. It would take too long to explain it all here, but basically the way they intend to do it is riddled with conflict of interests. When I pointed this out to the Cabinet Member, he agreed with me and said he would look again. That felt like a victory!