PhilWynn
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@DerekJackson 17637 wrote:
Within the corridors of ‘Power’ in the Council 70/30 is the ratio that has been mentioned.
ie for every million pounb saved the Council retain £700k and the consultants are paid £300k
Some of you may remember that this type of contract had been awarded to the consultant involved in the Leisure Review prior to the closure of Plas Madoc had a similar agreement. Clr David Griffiths denied this was the case in the Council Chamber then a copy of the contract letter was produced and he then had to back peddle and stated that that particular element of the contract was no longer applicable.
I rest my case regarding transparency — either all Council Members are colluding in this exercise or the level of ignorance is far deeper than one would expect.
Do these actions really give the public any confidence in the Council Members and Executive Officers being able to maintain a stand alone Council.Derek- they say never let the truth get in the way of a good story but can I point you to para 4.35 of WCBC’s Executive Board’s report “Change Programme and Financial Efficiencies for 2015/16 – 2017/18”
Commercial principles 4.35 There are two main principles currently being discussed. The first is that there will be a 10:1 return on investment with the Reshaping Services Partner over the lifetime of the programme. Not all work-streams will produce a 10:1 return but we are working to that as an average return over the lifetime of the programme.
If you do the maths the consultants fee, whilst significant, does not come near to what is your understanding.
I hope you don’t mind me asking but could you let everyone know if your reading of the report leaves you believing that future major savings are to be driven by implementing efficient ways of working rather than the “salami” cost slicing which all local authorities have been engaged in todate?
Cllr Phil Wynn
@DerekJackson 17664 wrote:
I’ve been told that Clr Wynn has been reprimanded by the Leader and other members of the Independents because he dared to start this thread. I hope this is not the case – I might not agree with some of his views but admire him for bringing the issue into the public domain- he hasn’t however made any posts to respond on this thread since the 6th.
Can Wrexham.com get a statement from Clr Wynn?Derek – apologies for not posting sooner but I was at the the Homestead Residents Group meeting on Wednesday till gone 9pm, followed up with emails to various agencies regarding a number of worrying burglaries in the area. On Thursday I was in work during the day and at the Offa Community Council meeting that evening till gone 10pm. Back in work on the Friday and that evening was spent baby sitting for family whilst firing off a number of emails. This Saturday morning has been spent on ward work, whilst this afternoon I took my Dad to the Stockport/Wrexham game, returning at 6.30pm to a number of calls off ward residents.
This evening I have started reading the lengthy Executive Board report, which is to be followed up with the Life-Long Scrutiny Report and the Housing Scrutiny Report.
As such I hope you will bear with as I do plan to comment further on the thread discussion you have commented on.
For the record I am not aware that the Leader is following the thread I have commenced and if he is then I am sure he holds the wisdom not to rebuke me for engaging with fellow Wrexhamites on wrexham.com
Cllr Phil Wynn
@Mrs Crewe 17608 wrote:
A country with a population of barely 3 million does not need 22 local government bodies to administer it. It doesn’t even need an Assembly which has brought Wales nothing but hurt. That being said if the concern is delivery of local services at a local level why don’t they rationalise the management structures and back office roles. Before bricks are thrown, I am a local govt officer in a back office role. In the big city Councils which have populations approaching that of Wales, have one Head of Education we have 22.
Thanks to the over burden of local government and the heavily over stocked NHS we have a GDP in Wales of approaching 75% public sector. It is both irresponsible and uneconomical to run a country’s finances like this. We are all working and paying taxes to fund our own posts leaving nothing to invest in health, education and infrastructure.
Instead of throwing the toys out of the pram, having a tantrum and crying we won’t we won’t we won’t, I would have more respect for the Wrexham Councillors if they were taking a lead in helping Wales to become an economic success.
If they came to the table with intelligent and rational ideas of combining back office roles, or in encouraging current teams to think about setting up arms length companies to offer such services as HR, Payroll, Accountancy and Internal Audit, they would show that they were really interested in promoting economic success in Wrexham.
The stance they are taking suggests they are more afraid of losing their cushy Councillor roles with juicy increments for sitting on committees, than proving to the people of Wrexham that they believe in providing a good local service.Mrs Crewe – I totally agree that there are savings that can be delivered by unifying back room functions which would have little impact for the residents of Wrexham or Flintshire, other than knowing we are doing are best to protect front-line services.. What I am advocating however is this is delivered without Wrexham having to lose control of its own destiny, which would happen if a Welsh Labour fast-tracked merger was to of happened.
In the meantime WCBC are working on a Business Plan to reshape how we deliver services in Wrexham and which services we are going to deliver following a further £45m of cuts to our budget. If we take our eye off this bigger “ball”then the likelihood is in the very near future there will be no local democracy to debate.
In my ward I have recently supported the planning application for a new office headquarters for the Queen Award winning company, Monnypenny. If all goes to plan they will deliver a thousand job opportunities for Wrexhamites. There are also a number of major building projects in the pipe-line, such as the Prison,which will also add much needed job opportunities, especially at a time when WCBC are likely to be losing over a thousand staff, following the budget cuts we are being asked to deliver.
@JaneJ 17594 wrote:
Clr Wynn you have started your response with the term ‘forced merger’ – if you and your colleagues had actually taken the time to debate the whole range of options in the Williams Commission report you would realize there was clearly an option for Councils to put their own proposals forward. Your decision as a Council to be so inward looking as to not even bother talking with potential partners Denbighshire/Flintshire– by your own admission such discussion /consideration was never on the cards.
The facts speak for themselves we have Councilors in Wrexham who are now to big for their boots now they are playing with the big boys in Cardiff. There is not one Councilor in Wrexham it appears that has any idea how to negotiate. A failure by yourself and others to have a dialogue with potential partners (or at least find out what is on offer) can only be viewed as total gross mismanagement both at Council Member and Officer levels and certainly not acting in the best interest of people of Wrexham if the door has been slammed shut so early in the process.JaneJ you clearly hold strong anti feelings towards the ruling coalition at WCBC and the stance we are currently pursuing to keep Wrexham as a stand alone authority.
If we fail to win over the hearts and minds of our fellow Wrexhamites over the prevailing months then our stance will be proven to a worthless one to of taken. That said if we had immediately jumped into bed with Flintshire without any dialogue with the Wrexham general public then we would equally of been challenged by others that we were disrespectful to the principle of local democracy.
We now await Leighton Andrews next statement on the future of Welsh local authorities, so nothing is currently lost and who is to say dialogue will not take place between Denbighshire/Flintshire and Wrexham councillors in the intervening tIme.
Just to prove you are not politically driven in your comments would you please consider sharing your views by answering my questions individually? I hope you don’t mind me asking but I was hoping to start a debate which would generate more light than heat on the future governance of our town and county.
Cllr Phil Wynn
Firstly may I thank those who have shared their views on the forced merger of Wrexham and Flintshire.
I would say a fair summation, which may well be representative of the majority of residents in Wrexham, ranges from many questioning the benefit and motives of the merger to those who just want elected councillors to get on and do it. In the middle ground there are a number of contributors who are undecided and need more detailed information before making their minds up.
One under-current I am picking up on is politicians [even mere County Councillors like myself] are held in low esteem by many, which I guess started with the expenses scandal, to the current day when many feel let down by those national politicians which got this country into a financial muddle and the policy decisions the current government are following to eliminate the countries excessive budget deficit.
Sadly for me these anti-politician concerns which are openly expressed will do little to encourage the likes of yourselves to stand in future local elections. A loss to democracy unless this worrying trend can be reversed.
As for the questions I have posed, I will come back to them separately.
As for a response to some of the questions raised to-date, my thoughts are:
“Interested” – only six local authorities have shown any interest to enter into voluntarily mergers, we in Wrexham are therefore with the majority. From my discussions with Conwy Councillors their decision to merge hinges on the Welsh Government covering the significant up-front costs of their merger with Denbighshire. If this is not forthcoming then their voluntary arrangement may fall by the way side. The point I am making is it would of been foolish to of rushed into merger talks, as Leighton Andrews was hoping would happen and that has been the decision of most local authorities.
Your comment that we ought to sit down with Flintshire will not directly lead to answers being provided to any of the questions I have posed [apart from no 5. partially] as these questions need to be answered by Leighton Andrews, as the Minister for local government in Wales.
If you re-read my Qu 9. then I hope you will acknowledge I am not averse to making efficiency savings [thereby freeing up money for front-line services] by working ever closer with the elected members in Flintshire but not necessarily by committing to a full scale merger.
As for the accusation of self-preservation, all I can say is I recognise there is a need to deliver democracy for less money, so I would not be averse to their being fewer elected members in a free standing Wrexham Council, or if needs be for members allowances to be scaled back. That is a discussion yet to be had, so I’m happy to be accused of voting for Christmas. It’s a great shame the empire building politicians in Brussels and Cardiff Bay are not advocating the same discipline.
As for any SWOT analysis. At the moment I cannot think of a defining benefit for Wrexhamites being represented in a Greater Flintshire. One benefit would be that Leighton Andrews would only need to engage with 6,7,8,11 local authorities, rather than 22. Some argue why not go the whole way and have 1 local authority administered from Cardiff Bay – now that would create a large saving.
“99Dylan Jones” – your comments on the various pan north Wales collaborative workings amongst the six various authorities is a valid one and does show that at certain levels of service delivery there are clear benefits on LA’s pooling resources. I assume whatever outcome faces local authorities in north Wales, such regional arrangements will be left alone.
You are right to say the option of voluntary mergers was not on the table back in August [if my memory serves me right] but even if it had I don’t think it would of changed the minds of any of the elected members in attendance at the workshops, especially knowing that the Welsh Government cannot put a figure to the cost of reorganisation or clarity on is it local ratepayers who will pick up the tab or the Welsh Government.
GwR is the pan north Wales body which has been charged with school inspections, with a view to driving up educational attainment by way of sharing best teaching practices etc. Over the recent past, pass rates at Key Stage 4 Level 2 inclusive have improved in Wrexham, be it from a low base and at a rate which needs to be accelerated.
Why have Flintshire out performed Wrexham in KS4 L2inc exam pass rates? I have no empirical evidence to prove it but maybe it is because Flintshire’s has a higher percentage of secondary schools which have sixth-forms, may be one reason, maybe they focus their efforts on English and Maths at the expense of pass rates in all subjects, maybe the number of capable children who are taught not out of county is lower in Flintshire [this is an issue of historical standing in Wrexham e.g. pupils go to Castell Alun in Flintshire, Dinas Bran in Denbighshire and the recent trend of them going to Bishop Heber. A drain of our local talent which I would argue has an impact on comparison percentages.
We also have two secondary schools in Wrexham which are currently in special measures. From my experience as a governor at one of them. I believe this has focused hearts and minds in ensuring better educational attainment for all of our pupils, which was demonstrated by our much improved pass rates in August; for two years on the run we have provided added value by exceeding our Fischer Family Trust targets.
“Wxm” – your points are valid and I fully agree that the destiny of Wrexham would be easier to defend as a standalone authority if our economic standing was better placed.
“JaneJ” – individuals who stand as Independent candidates in local elections do so because they wish to see the best outcomes for their own community and this is a common bond.
To make a difference though such individuals do come together to form Groups which are willing to work for the common good of all. The group I am a member of is no different.
My observations of political party members at the Guildhall, is many have their differences of opinions which they happily express in a public domain and clearly many do it behind closed doors which has resulted in ten councillors recently leaving a party which many had been loyal members of for all of their working lives.
As for manifestos well I’m happy for mine to be “the application of common-sense in the pursuit of what is best for the people of Wrexham and for the reputation of Wrexham”.
The point I make is non-politically aligned councillors are no bad thing for Wrexham.
Apologies if I have omitted to answer anyone directly. I promise to get back to you on the questions I have posed.
Bye the way the points I have made are mine and mine alone.
Cllr Phil Wynn
The children’s donkey rides were popular at yesterday’s Offa carnival. Just as popular with the Mum’s and Dad’s taking photo’s of their loved ones.
Maybe an add on attraction for the beach.
Phil Wynn
I forgot to mention if anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the elected members’ “Annual Statement” then please do so via this link, preferably before the Democratic Services meeting which is being held this coming Wednesday.
Cllr Phil Wynn
@DerekJackson 13951 wrote:
Phil
Many thanks for this and good to see that you have entered into this process pity about your 30 plus colleagues–..
It s also a pity that this info is not made know to the electorate it was a chance look at next weeks Scrutiny papers I came across this item.
I also think the Council should produce a matrix showing attendance.I agree a simpler way of displaying elected member attendance would be desirable but equally as important those meeting which members have left before the end. You’ll be surprised how often this happens but then again maybe not.
Cllr Phil Wynn
As per the opening post, WCBC were not planning to make any additional collections this weekend and were happy to leave general waste bins uncollected for four weeks in affected wards i.e. the collection on the 10th would be made on the 24th. This is reaffirmed in today’s Daily Post.
This arrangement was totally unacceptable to me and a number of fellow elected members, whom I have been liaising with. As such a compromise collection has been circulated on the Council’s web-site and on our Council’s help-line tel no 298989.
Unfortunately a high number of general waste bins and recycling boxes were still on the Brynyffynnon pavements at tea-time today, so the message clearly hasn’t got through to residents to take their bins in until Thursday.
Having door knocked quite a number of properties late this afternoon and phoned numerous ward residents I’m hoping this will now happen, but sadly I’m not holding my breath on this as there are over 1800 households in Brynyffynnon so not an easy task.
The new collection arrangement will mean the next green bin day in the ward I represent will now take place on the 31st of July rather than the 17th. This means food waste and used nappies, which the council encourage residents to recycle in the green bins, will be left un-collected for four weeks. In my mind this clearly is a health hazard so I shall be asking senior officers on Monday to reconsider this decision.
All I can do is apologise for what has turned into a “dogs dinner” and reassure my constituents that I will not leave this until we have a satisfactory outcome and a review of how we have got this so badly wrong, so it will not happen again.
For those of you who may think I am overstating the case then please feel free to walk the Bradley Road area tomorrow, as there will still be a number of stinking bins left on the pavement and those that have been taken in by their owners will be proving a health hazard, be it in their rear courtyards.
I agree in a perfect world residents should recycle perishable waste in their green bins but sadly this is not always happening, hence the health hazard issue.
For the record my comments are in no way a criticism of our Council’s front line staff or any staff who chose to go on strike. In fact I am amazed what staff are still managing to do at the coal-face, whilst being asked to do so with ever diminishing staff numbers and resources.
Cllr Phil Wynn
PS you may have guessed I am not a happy councillor at present.
As a member of the Democratic Services Committee I am in total agreement that the elected members Annual Statement is a good idea and a way for us to list what we do to justify our allowance. Unfortunately only 20 of the 52 members completed a statement, so still a long way to go before all of of us have been won over. That’s the challenge.
My link to my 2012/13 statement is: https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/members/membersannualreports/phil_wynn.pdf
Hope this demonstrates to you Derek that the process has started.
Cllr Phil Wynn
