babergh district council

Meanwhile on Planet Babergh – Lock Up Your Wallets

Brian Riley Political - Local , , , , , ,

Earlier this month, I attended the November meeting of Babergh’s Overiew and Scrutiny meeting (see YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyDYZcRiM7M ). The main focus was the report on the Council’s Progress towards its net zero commitment. The good news is that we are roughly halfway towards our 2019-2030 target. The bad news is that we have picked the low hanging fruit and meeting the rest of our commitment will become more difficult and more expensive.
It is accepted that UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions account for around 1% of the global gas emissions total (based on a range of estimates produced by the UN). Babergh’s population is less than one seventh of one per cent of the U.K. population So, it is a fair conclusion that we can do very little to improve the UK’s pollution position and even less to the world’ pollution problem
The presentation to the Committee contained very little information as to how we are going to meet our targets and how much it is going to cost us. (Please see the YouTube video around the 28 minute mark).
Faced with the prospect of spending more money without seeing what we are going to spend it on, the Committee resolved to recommend that the Cabinet alongside officers re-examine the financial viability of reaching the Council’s target of net-zero emissions by 2030, with due consideration being given to Babergh’s current financial situation.
And then before I could start feeling smug and thinking that we might be on the right track I learned that Babergh are recruiting a Head of Climate & Nature Recovery at a salary between £62,276 and £75,619 plus the usual extras such as pension contributions and other overheads.
We already have a Climate Change Manager so I wonder why we need a new Head of Climate & Nature Recovery
Disclaimer:
This blog/post is the sole responsibility of its author Brian Riley.
It has not been approved nor is it endorsed by Babergh District Council or South Suffolk Conservative Association.

Meanwhile at Planet Babergh – Asleep at the Wheel?

Brian Riley Political - Local , , , ,

On Tuesday (19th Nov) at the Babergh District Council meeting we were treated to the half yearly report on Treasury Management (to 30thSeptember 2024). The paper was full of gems and insights, some overt and others deducible.
For example, in 2015 we invested £2 million in a UBS Multi Asset Income Fund. The fund was closed in September and £1.469 million was returned to Babergh with a resultant capital loss of £531,000. The leadership seemed quite relaxed that overall net interest £727,000 had been received over the life of the investment, so that there was no overall loss.
Except that, as far as I can ascertain we have received interest on a loss making investment and have not made any provisions for the capital loss.
The interest received has gone to revenue and has been spent and so we have been like gamblers spending our winnings but running our losses.
The capital loss is expected to be charged to this year’s accounts.
What else might there be lurking in the local authority financial swamps? Well, we have a nominal £2 million invested in the CCLA Local Authority Property Fund which was valued at £4,520,000 in March suggesting an ongoing capital value loss of £480,000. Similarly, we have a nominal investment of £2 million in the Schroder Income Maximiser Fund which in March was valued at £1,626,000 showing a capital loss of £374,000.
I understand that as a result of revised accounting rules, these losses will need to be provided for next year.
Meanwhile there are bright spots on the horizon (spoiler alert: sarcasm) I am reminded that Babergh and Mid Suffolk are passionate about enabling our communities to be more sustainable, resilient and to thrive.
Doubtless this is why we are advertising the post of Director of Place at a salary of £85,102 – £97,879. His/her responsibilities include bringing together responsibility for our key levers of planning, communities, wellbeing and the economy. You’d think that this was the job of the Chief Executive and that the last thing we needed was another £100,000+ (including national insurance and pension contributions) of overhead.
But the position is being advertised and I wonder who in the present circumstances thought that this was a good idea.
Disclaimer:
This blog/post is the sole responsibility of its author Brian Riley.
It has not been approved nor is it endorsed by Babergh District Council or South Suffolk Conservative Association.

Meanwhile on Planet Babergh

Brian Riley Food Matters, Political - Local, Uncategorized ,
EPSON MFP image

Besieged by Bins?

At the Cabinet meeting on Monday, Babergh decided to introduce a food collection service,
This will be in the form of a third mandatory bin for our residents. There are other modifications proposed to the collection service and these will cost around £1 million in the first year.
The figures presented to us did not include possible income from the Government via the Administrator for Extended Producer Responsibility.
Also excluded was how the Council will treat the food waste collected. There was talk of composting (for farmers) and the production of fuel gases. However, when I asked about the where, the when and the how much this might cost and why it was not included the figures presented, I was told that this was a separate project and full details would be forthcoming in due course.
(I felt as though I had stepped out of an episode of Yes Minister).
Disclaimer:
This blog/post is the sole responsibility of its author Brian Riley.
It has not been approved nor is it endorsed by Babergh District Council or South Suffolk Conservative Association.

Deputy Leaders’ Allowances

Brian Riley Money Matters, Political - Local, Uncategorized ,

Often, District and County Council meetings test one’s boredom level as the meetings are often a formality and decision making is often pushed to the side. So it was on Tuesday when Babergh Councillors were asked to note the Council’s Annual Treasury Management Report and the progress and strategy of CIFCO (the Council’s property company). Although the papers presented to us were for noting rather than approval there was some lively questioning
About an hour and a half into the meeting we sat down to look at a paper for approval bearing the seemingly innocuous title “BC/23/17 Recommendation from the Independent Review Panel”.
This paper suggested that as we now had two Deputy Leaders (one a legal requirement) and the other discretionary (depending upon the wishes of the parties concerned), they should both be classified as political and were recommended to receive 1.25 times the basic Councillor’s allowance as a special responsibility allowance for their respective positions.
The paper’s arguments seemed reasonable until the assumptions were tested. The comparative councils with two or more deputy leaders were much larger than Babergh. The range of skills and duties suggested that we would be paying over the odds for a job share programme. Really, this was a ruse to reward political allies.
After much discussion in the chamber, I was pleased to move an amendment to the original proposals and suggest that as this was a job share, each of the deputies should receive half of the suggested allowance.
The voting went to 11 votes for and 11 votes against with 5 abstentions. The Chair exercised her casting vote against the amendment, even though there was a distinct mood that the original suggestions were not acceptable.
We then moved to voting on the substantive motion. 10 voted for and 11 voted against whereupon the original recommendation was lost and the residents won.
Taxpayers should not be paying for vanity projects and this whole exercise demonstrated that although the Conservative Group at Council is small (seven of us) we are not without friends.
The meeting may be viewed on YouTube and the web address is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQhNAX5Que0
Disclaimer:

This blog/post is the sole responsibility of its author Brian Riley.
It has not been approved nor is it endorsed by Babergh District Council or South Suffolk Conservative Association

Council Taxes & Precepts: Clarion Call

Brian Riley Money Matters, Political - Local , , , ,

Often, the best form of defence is to get one’s retaliation in first.
I am aware of at least one council discussing raising their Council Tax impositions without any mention of the needs of their electorate or the effect of the rises upon their residents
We need to tell local councillors at Parish, District and County levels telling them that as residents and tax payers we do not wish to see any increase in the council taxes levied upon our households.
We know that many businesses have suffered in the past nine months, we know that people have been furloughed and are on reduced incomes, we also know that many families relying on casual work whether in the hospitality sector or otherwise have seen their personal finances devastated.
Budget decisions are due next month, but before then we need to tell our Councillors that any increase in the Council Tax this year is unacceptable.
It’s time Councils reviewed their expenditures into three categories: Luxurious, Nice to have and Need to have. The last category getting the first bite of the monies.
For example, the last time I looked, Suffolk had seventeen officers and senior staff responsible for internal and external communications. I have excluded from this number those persons concerned with Customer Services, Web and Digital Transformation. Those seventeen could not all be performing essential tasks relating to the proper stewardship of our monies.
Every council and organisation has its own little pockets of waste and extravagance. Even after years of austerity they can still be rooted out and the monies returned to the tax payer.
A version of this blog was published in the EADT on 26th December 2020

Not All News is Bad

Brian Riley Election Days, Nice Things, Political - Local , , , , ,

This week’s local government elections in Babergh and Mid-Suffolk are not all bad news. Katherine Grandon was re-elected with only two votes less than 2015 but this time with a much reduced turnout.
Katherine ran as an Independent after quite surprisingly having found herself unadopted for a ward which she had loyally served for eight years as their Councillor.
So, definitely a case of rejoicing and champagne all round.
John Hinton was once a senior member of Babergh’s higher echelons until he fell out with the Council’s future direction. He also stood as an Independent and was resoundingly re-elected.
Elsewhere the Conservatives in East Cornard swept their board with three seats defeating two prominent Labour councillors.
The results for Babergh are not all milk and honey. The Conservatives have dropped from being the majority party to being merely the largest. Some decent people are no longer on the Council, but as always, some people will be gladly missed and hopefully soon forgotten.
It’s easy to blame Brexit for changes in fortune, but local personality and local loyalties also played a part. My friends who got re-elected understood that you must get out the votes if you want to be elected. Others, who rely upon the tides to lift them up, often find themselves beached when the tides go out.

Meanwhile on Planet Babergh – East House

Brian Riley Money Matters, Political - Local , , , ,

BureaucracyThe Hadleigh Community News in April contained the report of the Meeting of Hadleigh Town Council held on the 18th February 2016 which included the following gem: “The Clerk reported that an e-mail had been received from Babergh District Council asking who owned East House. The Officer was, of course, advised that they own it.”
The history of East House is simple: According to the Hadleigh Chamber of Commerce web site of 17th June 2013 East House and the Meadows were bought by the former Hadleigh Urban Council from the Styles family in 1960 for about £15,500. It was a straightforward sale with nothing to specify the building should be used for the benefit of Hadleigh people or anyone else. When local government was reorganised in 1974, council held assets had to be reallocated to the new bodies. To begin with the new councils agreed that the town council should take on ownership of East House. It was a town asset and would stay in the hands of the town’s administrators. However, when, under the rules of reorganisation, the district auditor investigated the division of assets it was discovered that because East House had been bought by the former urban council under Housing Act powers it would therefore have to be allocated to the new district council (Babergh) which was responsible for housing. It was thus transferred to ownership of Babergh.
In 1975 Babergh offered to sell East House (though not the meadows) to Hadleigh Town Council at market value. Hadleigh Town Council unanimously decided not to buy the property as they were already financing loans relating to Hadleigh’s Guildhall and was therefore unable to take on another financial commitment of that size.
East House was leased to Suffolk County Council who (in 2006) discovered that it was the second least efficient property on its books. Not surprising then that Suffolk didn’t renew its lease and handed the building back to Babergh paying for the assessed dilapidations. I campaigned in 2007 citing the emptiness of East House and blaming the Lib Dems for their lack of action.
East House was subsequently placed with Strutt Parker for them to market the property. Depending on whom you speak to market conditions were the reason for the lack of progress with potential buyers. So, ten years on it seems that Babergh would like someone else to be responsible for East House – possibly so that the blame game can be renewed! Why is it that the words “Twinings, a tea party, couldn’t organise at” come to mind.
And for this they raise Council Taxes!

Fuller details can be found on: http://www.hadleighcommunitynews.co.uk/content_hcn/town_council.aspx http://www.hadleighchamber.co.uk/our_town/community/east_house_what_really_happened

Meanwhile on Planet Babergh – Angel Court

Brian Riley Uncategorized , , , ,

BureaucracyI recently had a call from a constituent asking what was happening to Angel Court in Hadleigh. Angel Court was formerly a residential care home and subsequently became a temporary housing unit and more recently Suffolk County Council sold it to Babergh District Council. My usual sources at Babergh tell me that they are unable to throw any light on the situation – so the question remains why and what do Babergh intend to do with the property? I have looked over the agendas and minutes of Babergh’s Strategy Committee and I can only surmise that the authority to acquire the property was contained in their meeting of  4th February. The minutes record that The Committee  noted the action taken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, as set out in Paper R95. Paper R95 was discussed without the public being present as it was  likely that there would be the disclosure of exempt information. Moreover the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed  the public interest in disclosing the information.
So what are the options for the property?

  • Turn it into a hotel? (After all Babergh is accruing an investment fund of £25 million – Paper R83)
  • Turn it into housing – since there is a constant demand for commercial or social housing.
  • Turn it into a state of the art e-commerce entrepreneurial centre.
  • Turn it into a new set of offices, thereby vacating Corks Lane and possibly leading to the consolidation of yet more services into Mid Suffolk’s offices at Needham Market.

You can guess where my suspicions lie. If it was good news why the secrecy. Once again the disinfectant of transparency is needed to dispel suspicions that the people of Hadleigh are to receive an unpleasant surprise. Meanwhile I have lodged a Freedom of Information Request to see if we can get some light on the subject.

Information is not Knowledge

Brian Riley Local Colour, Political - Local , ,

BureaucracyOne of my favourite Babergh District Council committees is the Joint Audit & Standards. It last met on the 22nd January and paper JAC68 tells us of the current state of play with complaints against councillors.
We are told that since the last meeting there have been 11 new complaints. There are four complaints outstanding against District Councillors and 42 against Parish Councillors. No complaint investigation resulted in action being taken and seven complaints were deemed either not to have breached the Code of Conduct or required no action. Thirty-nine complaints were carried forward and are still outstanding.
This is just Information – not Knowledge and only hides what should be known. There was no update in October to the August 2015 report (JAC 59) which told us about three Mid-Suffolk District Councillors and various Parish Councillors in Stoke by Nayland, Felsham, Elmswell, Beyton (& Tostock), Bentley, Stradbroke and Long Melford who were the subject of complaints.
Why does it matter – well for one thing the disinfectant of transparency is a powerful boost for government to be answerable to and controlled by the people.
I would like to know whether the complaints against the three Mid- Suffolk Councillors were resolved. Have there have been four new complaints and if the three Mid Suffolk Councillors are still hanging around awaiting findings, what is holding matters up?  Who is the fourth Councillor to be the subject of a current complaint and what have they done?
Hopefully we might find out about all these things at the next meeting of the next Joint & Audit & Standards Committee.

Hadleigh Market

Brian Riley Local Colour, Political - Local , ,

Hadleigh Market ConsultationThere are times when you see things that you wish you hadn’t. You dismiss them from your mind and then they come back in the early hours of the morning, when you should be dreaming of nice things.
I was visiting Hadleigh last month and noticed a poster in the Co-op inviting comments and suggestions on the future of Hadleigh Town Market. As a market town we have a long tradition of markets and fairs. Within recent years we have seen the market shrink from two days a week to one (Friday) and recently the key anchor merchandiser (the greengrocer) announced that he was retiring.
I’m all for consultation and accessing the community of knowledge and so I welcomed the outreach initiative. And then I saw what I rank as five of the worst words in the English language ever strung together. There at the bottom of the poster is the strap line “Managed by Babergh District Council”.
The disconnect between the reality and the ability to organise tea parties at Twinings is historical and self evident. Babergh are the Council who insisted on trying to foist a Tesco supermarket on Hadleigh despite the overwhelming evidence that it would be an economic disaster and destroy the High Street and the town. These are the people who have sat on East House leaving it empty since 2006 when it could have continued as a community asset. These are the people who gave us car parking charges in the face of overwhelming evidence that small towns need the support that free car parking gives them to continue their vibrancy and to enable small businesses to compete against supermarkets.
Babergh, for as long as I have known it, thinks of itself as the inheritor of the view that ‘the man in Whitehall knows best’. This socialist statist view came from Baron Jay who in 1937 wrote: “In the case of nutrition and health, just as in the case of education, the gentleman in Whitehall really does know better what is good for people than the people know themselves.” Babergh self inherited this arrogance which continues to manifest itself in their actions.
And what of Hadleigh Market. The Town already hosts monthly Farmers’ Markets and there is scope for people to enjoy more artisanal as well as more exotic products (I particularly liked the Nile Perch available from Crystal Waters). However at the risk of being a Cassandra, I can’t see the helping hand of Babergh being a significant plus factor in the Market’s future.