Lead member roles to stay the same after no changes proposed to executive board line-up

Executive board roles at Wrexham Council are set to remain the same for the next 12 months – with no changes proposed to the current line-up.

The board, which makes decisions on various topics each month, is made up of five Independent councillors, three members of the Wrexham Independent Party and two Conservatives

Over the years there have been calls to reduce the numbers of the executive board in a bid to make savings – with Council Leader Mark Pritchard telling us this week he is still keen to do just that, but he does not have wider political support.

Prior to the split of the labour group in 2014 there were seven portfolio holders on the executive board and three opposition councillors who were able to vote.

There have also been questions over the workload of lead members, with some portfolio holders presenting far more reports than others since roles were appointed back in 2017. Wrexham.com has FOI’ed to discover more on that point, however had it batted back saying all the requested information is on the Council’s website, including Part 2 secret reports and lead member diaries. We have asked for the response to be reviewed as we do not think the Part 2 reports or such diaried information exists on there.

The lead member roles due to be formally reappointed next week, are:

– Lead Member for Organisation – Finance, Performance, Health & Safety and Governance:– Council Leader Mark Pritchard

– Lead Member for Organisation – Planning and Corporate Services:- Councillor David Kelly

The above councillors will effectively be voting to approve the report to re-assign their own job roles when they are asked to “note the allocation with immediate effect of lead responsibilities” at the executive board meeting next week.