Report on County Council Matters to North Nibley Parish Council

5^th June 2017

County Council meeting 17^th May

The council now has a majority Conservative administration and have taken the roles of both chair and vice-chair of the council.

The cabinet leader, Mark Hawthorne, was re-elected to that post for four years and he named the members of his new cabinet, now totalling nine, previously eight.

All the scrutiny committee chairs have been taken by Conservatives, which has raised some concern as these cross-party bodies are intended to hold the administration to account. The exception to this was the Audit and Governance Scrutiny Committee chair, which I believe has to be an opposition member. In an unexpected move, a Labour member was elected to this position.

I have been reappointed to the committees I previously served on.

Amey Contract

In a press release, the administration has said they will be putting more money into the county’s roads over the next five years. I can only assume most of this is the usual Government grants for highways work as the council is not in a position to increase the precept for further investment in roads. The press release continues that “the council will be continuing to work with Amey until the end of its contract in March 2019” and refers to a future Cabinet meeting (probably on 19^th June) which will “put plans in place for the future and decide what sort of contract will be needed.” So, it seems that they have now accepted the widespread dissatisfaction with Amey’s performance and are unlikely to extend the contract.

Other meetings

The council is now in the middle of a series of induction and compulsory training meetings for members, new and old. These will continue until late June, with the next meeting of the county council on 28^th June.

John Cordwell