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by Paul Scully | Jul 23, 2008 | News |
I’ve just been sent a photo taken at an event that I attended a couple of weeks ago. The Sutton Council Excellence Awards dinner was an opportunity to recognise those council employees who had gone that bit further in delivering services to all of us in Sutton. We have 3,500 people working hard, sometimes the work is thankless, sometimes they have to provide the public face for the LibDem administration’s occasional unpopular and ill-thought out decisions. It’s good to say thank you.
The evening was hosted by Trevor Knight OBE, retired Head of Library Services and Helen Young, former BBC weather presenter. Also in the photo are Dean Shoesmith, Head of HR and Cryss Mennaceur, Head of Organisational Development and the person with the unenviable task of getting councillors into training sessions, somewhat akin to herding cats. I sat with the caretakers of the Civic Offices, who won a deserved award.
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by Paul Scully | Jul 16, 2008 | News |
Last week, the Lead Councillor for the Environment told us all via the Sutton Guardian that Sutton had the fourth lowest fly-tipping problem in London but fly-tippers were punished most severely.
On the day of publication of that issue, Cllr Tim Crowley inspected this pile of garden waste that a resident had seen dumped by a vehicle bearing the Council tree logo next to Corrigan Rec in the Clockhouse Estate. On reporting the fact that on at least two succesive Thursdays this pile had been added to, he was told variously that it was due to an attempt to save petrol and that it should not have happened and an investigation would be started. It was collected on Sunday by 7 men, 1 tractor and 2 pick-ups.
Despite this, the Lead Councillor for the Environment calmly explained to a public meeting on Wednesday that included Clockhouse residents that it was normal practice to dump the cuttings from Corrigan Rec and then pick it up the next day. This statement came shortly after he responded to a question from Clockhouse residents asking him how they should deal with green garden waste as there was no collection point within several miles of the Estate, by telling them to drive to Kimpton Road (17 mile round trip) or Beddington Lane (11.8 mile round trip).
So… Councillor tells people that they will be in real trouble if they fly-tip whilst the service that he is responsible for is fly-tipping; councillor tells Clockhouse residents to travel across South London to get rid of their rubbish, whilst council waste is tipped in a nearby field. Imagine what your neighbour would say if you chucked your waste across the fence. Have a look at what the Council Leader of Banstead and Reigate found out that the field near Hatch Lane was in fact, not in the Borough of Sutton at all.
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by Paul Scully | Jul 12, 2008 | News |
…Quite literally. I spoke to a Sutton resident this morning who clipped the glass recycling bin in her green wheelie bin. On collection day, the green wheelie bin was emptied into the back of the truck along with the blue bin.
How many of these bins have been recycled themselves? Another example of the system becoming more complicated without adequate communication or provision?
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by Paul Scully | Jul 11, 2008 | News |
Yesterday I attended the reopening of the Limes College, Sutton’s pupil referral unit previously known as the Loxley Centre. I joined Cllr Marion Williams who serves on the management committee. Emma Bradshaw, the headteacher and her staff had coped brilliantly through a year when the number of pupils rose from 30 to 100.
It is a challenge to take children that are failing within the mainstream system for one reason or another and giving them some sense of purpose. These are children who may not have been attending school at all or not due to obtain any qualifications whatsoever. It would be too easy to forget about them and then be forced to pick up the pieces later on. Emma and her staff have had to cope on a small site that is not designed for the numbers that attend the unit.
The photo shows the Mayor at the opening ceremony. He pulled a rope to launch several green balloons with envelopes attached containing wishes from some of the guests. The wind seemed to be taking the balloons over Sutton town centre which probably avoided more UFO sightings over Cheam.
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by Paul Scully | Jul 10, 2008 | News |
I joined Paul Martin, Chief Exec of Sutton Council and Ruth Dombey, LibDem Deputy Leader in a question and answer session with six young Sutton residents. They were spending the week finding out more about the Council and its work by shadowing councillors.
Rather than a ‘Kevin & Perry’ shrug of the shoulders when asked if they had any questions, we spent an hour and a half tackling issues from what Sutton is doing to encourage councillors of all ages and backgrounds through to knife crime. These 16 and 17 year olds were not spotty Tory boys or class warriors, just ordinary youngsters with an interest in their area and their future. Paul, Ruth and I got as much out of the time as they did gaining a better insight of how youth provision and policing is seen through the eyes of a teenager.
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by Paul Scully | Jul 10, 2008 | News |
I sometimes get the feeling that Sutton Council works despite councillors rather than because of them. The 3,500 people that work for the local authority deserve credit for their achievments. Sutton had a reputation for environmental initiatives. The LibDems scored a few hits in this regard despite some failures such as the £250k gas powered dustcarts that didn’t work and the photo of dustmen emptying brown and green wheelie bins into the same lorry, which undermined their appeal to get people to do their bit. The introduction of fortnightly collections of the brown bins was perhaps the low tide mark that the Council needed to judge its actions by.
I’m afraid the water is well out at the moment following the introduction of the unpopular £35 per bag green garden waste. Conservatives working on the overall waste minimisation strategy warned that the charge was unjustified and required clear communication with residents if it was to be taken up. It is only now, five months after the Executive agreed to the charge that they are consulting with residents. Residents have been left with the idea at various times that the £35 charge was for as many bags as required, that the Conservatives agreed with the policy and that paying the charge would allow them to throw away as much as before until they saw the tiny green jute bags. 5000 bags have been bought to date despite the Council obtaining 38,000 bags in the expectation of them flying off the shelves. A second amenity point has had to be opened on the weekend in Beddington Lane to take the pressure of the dump at Kimpton Road, costing £5,000 per week. Despite this move, residents still face queues of up to an hour at the Kimpton dump.
The Council have had the Audit Commission in for the last fortnight or so, going through everything with a fine toothcomb for what is known as the corporate assessment. Every controversial decision has been kicked into touch until September when the inspectors will have written up their report, so we end up in the position of a consultation with a limited number of residents that will last the summer, when people need the collection service most.
We have reached the point when I hope that the Lead Councillor for the Environment, e-government and Efficiency will pass on the reins of power to someone else who can restore public confidence in this service. I have written about problems with parking services and the introduction of free laptops for councillors both of which come under his remit but it is the unpopular £35 charge and in particular the way in which it has been handled which brings me to propose a vote of no confidence at the next Council meeting on 21st July. On a number of occasions, officers have been made scapegoats and paid with their livelihoods. I hope in this instance, the person in charge of the policy takes responsibility and makes a principled resignation.
I’ve just been sent a photo taken at an event that I attended a couple of weeks ago. The Sutton Council Excellence Awards dinner was an opportunity to recognise those council employees who had gone that bit further in delivering services to all of us in Sutton. We have 3,500 people working hard, sometimes the work is thankless, sometimes they have to provide the public face for the LibDem administration’s occasional unpopular and ill-thought out decisions. It’s good to say thank you.
