Posted: Tue 19th May 2015

‘House Of Cards’ Style Plot Accusation Over Council Constitution Change

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Tuesday, May 19th, 2015

Last week Wrexham.com revealed the plans for Wrexham Council to move away from a current ‘politically balanced’ Executive Board makeup – with a dispute today over requests for information.

Our report was first to cover the extra £63,000 due to be spent – alongside some saving proposals and meeting time changes planned.

Today Plaid Cymru Councillor Arfon Jones called the changes to the Council’s constitution ‘subverting democracy’ and said he had been refused a copy of the legal advice on which the changes are based.

Councillor Jones said: “I have asked Wrexham Council to provide a copy of the legal advice on which this change of constitution is justified. They initially refused, then they offered bits and pieces of the advice in confidence which I feel is insufficient. As a result, I have made a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Wrexham.com asked Wrexham Council if a request from a member for a copy of the legal advice rejected. The Council said: “The Council’s Senior Legal Officer sought specialist counsel’s advice so that he could advise the Council. He offered to release the parts of his counsel’s advice relevant to the proposed changes to the constitution to all group leaders some of whom have taken the offer up.

“Cllr Jones refused the offer preferring to make a Freedom of Information request which is currently being processed in accordance with the statutory procedures.”

Councillor Jones has also sent a different Freedom of Information request to the Wales Audit Office as they are referred to by the Council as the trigger to the proposed changes in the Constitution.

Councillor Jones said: “I was told that the Wales Audit Office had told Wrexham Council to change the Constitution as it was non-compliant with the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011. I asked for copies of letters from the Audit Office and was told there were none and that the advice was verbal between an auditor and a senior officer. I find it hard to accept that a significant change would be made on the back of a verbal conversation. ”

Showing a level of response and interaction that the Police Commissioner could learn from, the following interchange took place today:

Councillor Jones stated his position saying: “The Plaid Cymru group believe that the changes to the Constitution are political so as to strengthen the power of the ruling coalition and they are looking for reasons to justify the change.

“Whoever has come up with this has been watching too much House of Cards rather than getting on with the job of making Wrexham a better place to live and work. It’s a crass attempt at subverting democracy.”

The Council meeting is being webcast live, and could be well worth a watch with Cllr Jones saying: “It is essential that changes to the constitution, which will increase one group’s political influence and diminishes other groups’ influence, is subject of full scrutiny and consultation. How can we make decisions on incomplete information? The report on Wednesday flies in the face of the concept of openness and transparency and should be deferred until we have all the information to hand.”

Council Leader Mark Pritchard said this afternoon: “This goes to Council tomorrow where the matter will be debated fully”.

For those wishing to watch the ‘full debate’, tune in to the Council’s web stream from 6:30pm – and check out our Forums and tweets for the full debate.

You can read the report from last week detailing the changes proposed, and the reasoning given to why the changes are being made by clicking here…

(Wrexham.com did ask if Wrexham Council preferred the old UK version of House of Cards, or the newer USA version. We will keep readers posted if we get an indication of preference.)

Pic: Kevin Spacey on holiday in Wrexham.



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