Area Committees will be reviewed by the council’s scrutiny committee next week, fifteen months after their introduction.
In that time each committee has met eight times, and by November 2012 the five committees had spent just £2,276.40 of their budget of £240,000. They had committed to spend a further £28,868.60.
Meanwhile the committee chairmen have trousered £3,745 each per year – a total of £18,725 a year!
The council maintains that Area Committees should not be judged merely by their largesse, but instead should be considered for the impact they have had on the community they serve.
This has varied widely between the five Area Committees, and it is clear that when there is a large local issue there will be a much better turnout.
A council report for the overview and scrutiny committee claims that on average 24 people have attended each meeting, but some meetings – such as one held by South West Area Committee to consider Wind Turbines – have had significantly higher numbers, over 100 members of the public in that case.
One concern raised was the lack of involvement with these meetings by outside bodies. In several areas the police only attend for their segment, and there is concern about the lack of involvement by Suffolk County Council. Although several county councillors do attend, usually in an informal or twin hatted capacity, the council report says “There is a concern that partnership support will ‘not helped by the current economic climate, which is typified by retrenchment and withdrawal.’”
However Suffolk County Council were much more involved with the Area Forums, which were unceremoniously dumped by the incoming Labour administration, with no consultation, back in 2011. It may be that the organisation feels once bitten, twice shy.
On a more positive note, it appears as though consideration will be given for more delegated powers to be given to the Area Committees. So far they have considered reports on Dog & Litter bins and traffic regulation orders. A recognition that “powers need to be devolved to maintain the development of the Area Committee as a decision-making body and to increase the functions available for the public to get involved”, is to be welcomed.
One small criticism could be levelled at the report going to scrutiny, and to be fair this is acknowledged in the report. Councillors and officers were consulted on how they feel Area Committees were achieving their aims and objectives. But there was no consultation done with members of the public who actually attend the meetings – let alone any attempt to determine why those who don’t attend feel that it isn’t for them.
The most telling comment has to be this, from an unnamed consultee: “I think area committees are absorbing more effort than envisaged, both in terms of supporting them and their activities. For me this highlights a need to redirect resources to them. I am not sure anyone – councillors or staff – fully appreciated the implications of a move to more area-based decision making. For this to be truly effective the council will have to become more area focussed in much of what it does.”
Filed under: Ipswich Borough Council Tagged: | Area Committees, Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Ipswich Spy, when you run a business – and you want ownership and accountability – rather than throw layer upon layer of people at a problem, you strip it back and empower a smaller number of skilled people to take responsibility &leadership.
Welcome to Ipswich: the county town of Suffolk where we operate with four rudders and six skippers; and where a bewildered electorate has no clue who is in charge !
There is Ipswich Borough Council running the Borough’s assets, who are almost entirely at odds with rural driven Suffolk County Council who has complete control of the County’s powerbase (ironically a third of it powered by pswich).
We have an Ipswich MP who actually only represents 60% of the population; and a Framlingham based MP who represents the remaining 40%. This causes its own problems when the urban Borough sees little political reward in North West Ipswich matters and has all but abandoned it.
We have Babergh and Suffolk Coastal District Council controlling large swaths of the town’s suburbs and able to dump their unwanted problems directly on our doorstep with the county town powerless to resist.
In the grand scheme “Area Committees” should be very valuable and powerful bodies to represent the townsfolk at grassroots level. Yet, when the delivery system is so fundamentally flawed and unaccountable there can be little surprise that local politicians don’t take Area Committees seriously; and that the town’s electorate has lost all faith in the town’s political process.
One thing I feel is notable in Ipswich is that many are not aware of what their County Councillor does. There are many reasons for this, but there is one small way that County Cllrs can be made more accountable with the help of the borough – that is have the local County Cllrs present a brief report at the relevant Area Committee. Areas outside of Ipswich, such as Kesgrave, all have a Town or Parish Council with members of the public able to attend the meetings. At these meetings, the County & District Cllrs present a brief report – so why not have a brief report from County Cllrs at Area Committee meetings?
Matthew, very few people are aware of who their County Councillors are and what they do. Being a County Councillor is a terrifically rewarding experience, although it is much harder work than the general public would credit.
My local Area Committee is actually chaired by one of our County Councillors, and attended regularly by another of the three who cover the area. Yet you could be forgiven for not knowing this. That they are also County Councillors is never mentioned. When a resident from just outside the Borough raised an issue about the state of the surface of Belmont Road, rather than answering it from the point of view of the County Council, the Chairman instead stuck with his Borough Council mindset.
If Area Committees were the equivalent of Parish Council meetings, a report from the County Councillor would be appropriate. But they are committee meetings of the Borough Council. Unfortunately this means that the protocols of the various councils has to be followed. Of course if they had been left as Area Forums this wouldn’t have been the case. Indeed many would argue that outside body involvement was much better under Area Forums.
I support the notion of the Area Committees and having been to both an Area Forum & an Area Committee, feel that the new Committees work much better, but I see no reason why Borough protocol could not be changed slightly to respond to the demads of the Area Committees and an invitation to County Cllrs to provide a brief report would be beneficial and, like in areas, outside of Ipswich make the most senior tier of local government that little bit more accessible.