LAST night at Salisbury City Council’s budget meeting I made a genuine offer to the Conservative group to rejoin the shared administration of LibDems, Labour, and Independent (me).
My colleagues fully supported this gesture.
I did it because we think it is important for all of us elected members to work together in the best interests of our community. There aren’t really many issues that come up at parish council level that you could put under the heading of ‘party political’.
The Conservative leader, Cllr Charles McGrath, chose to respond dismissively in a comment to a post on Facebook, saying: “You can take this as our formal refusal of your invitation. Thanks, but no thanks.”
He then declined repeatedly to answer questions from members of the public about what the Tories would have done instead with the budget, had they been in charge, and how they would have funded it.
Cllr McGrath has made claims about what the council would and would not be spending money on. As a joint administration we have sent responses to these claims to the local media, and I have also responded to some of them on Facebook.
What I want to stress here for those who do not realise is that city councillors are all volunteers.
My colleagues fully supported this gesture.
I did it because we think it is important for all of us elected members to work together in the best interests of our community. There aren’t really many issues that come up at parish council level that you could put under the heading of ‘party political’.
The Conservative leader, Cllr Charles McGrath, chose to respond dismissively in a comment to a post on Facebook, saying: “You can take this as our formal refusal of your invitation. Thanks, but no thanks.”
He then declined repeatedly to answer questions from members of the public about what the Tories would have done instead with the budget, had they been in charge, and how they would have funded it.
Cllr McGrath has made claims about what the council would and would not be spending money on. As a joint administration we have sent responses to these claims to the local media, and I have also responded to some of them on Facebook.
What I want to stress here for those who do not realise is that city councillors are all volunteers.
Unlike Wiltshire councillors, we do not receive thousands of pounds a year. We get an expenses allowance of £750 a year – BEFORE TAX – to fund all our work. For the leaders – and I’m not complaining – it’s a full-on job at times.
We as individuals all face the same rising costs and household bills as our fellow residents. And the council as a body faces the same cost pressures in taking care of its buildings, vehicles and staff.
It is nonsensical to claim that we would be cavalier about the way we spend council taxpayers’ money.
Every single person who voted for us has their own priorities in terms of what they would like us to do. We can’t please them all. And often, these turn out to be things the city council has no control over, such as roads and traffic, development planning or pavements, which are Wiltshire’s responsibility.
Just so there’s no doubt, here are the priorities that your administration has chosen to focus on, as cost-effectively as possible:
Climate change and the environment – an avenue of trees for Hudson’s Field, a citywide tree planting strategy and assessment of how we can improve our open spaces for people and wildlife, more money to increase our energy efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint. Electric vehicles.
Better public engagement – more consultation meetings at the Guildhall with a PA system that actually works, and a new opt-in email system to keep people informed and ask their opinions.
Business efficiency – taking all our grounds maintenance work in-house and buying our own depot, instead of renting.
Public art – a new £10,000 fund using local talent to brighten up public spaces across the city.
Community support – money for youth activities, for work to support families.
Maintenance – no longer putting off vital but costly repair work to the Guildhall, the Crematorium and public toilets. It’ll get dearer the longer we leave it.
Safety – we are funding the city centre security guards for another year until their contract expires, and will review the situation after we see what the Police Commissioner’s promises to improve city policing actually mean. We are meeting him soon.
The Conservatives agree with some of these things and not with others. However, they chose to walk away from our joint leadership, which means they don't have to take difficult decisions about things like this. We didn’t ask them to go. We didn’t want them to go.
Our offer to them remains open.
We as individuals all face the same rising costs and household bills as our fellow residents. And the council as a body faces the same cost pressures in taking care of its buildings, vehicles and staff.
It is nonsensical to claim that we would be cavalier about the way we spend council taxpayers’ money.
Every single person who voted for us has their own priorities in terms of what they would like us to do. We can’t please them all. And often, these turn out to be things the city council has no control over, such as roads and traffic, development planning or pavements, which are Wiltshire’s responsibility.
Just so there’s no doubt, here are the priorities that your administration has chosen to focus on, as cost-effectively as possible:
Climate change and the environment – an avenue of trees for Hudson’s Field, a citywide tree planting strategy and assessment of how we can improve our open spaces for people and wildlife, more money to increase our energy efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint. Electric vehicles.
Better public engagement – more consultation meetings at the Guildhall with a PA system that actually works, and a new opt-in email system to keep people informed and ask their opinions.
Business efficiency – taking all our grounds maintenance work in-house and buying our own depot, instead of renting.
Public art – a new £10,000 fund using local talent to brighten up public spaces across the city.
Community support – money for youth activities, for work to support families.
Maintenance – no longer putting off vital but costly repair work to the Guildhall, the Crematorium and public toilets. It’ll get dearer the longer we leave it.
Safety – we are funding the city centre security guards for another year until their contract expires, and will review the situation after we see what the Police Commissioner’s promises to improve city policing actually mean. We are meeting him soon.
The Conservatives agree with some of these things and not with others. However, they chose to walk away from our joint leadership, which means they don't have to take difficult decisions about things like this. We didn’t ask them to go. We didn’t want them to go.
Our offer to them remains open.
