It has been a good week for our colleague June Lumley.
For one thing, she was quoted in the Echo about the extra public consultation about future development :
June Lumley, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grange and Rawreth Ward, said: “This is a brilliant decision, as Wednesday is a busy day in the town and gives far more opportunity for people to put their points of view.
“We have to make it clear that, particularly in the western part of Rayleigh, we are overloaded with new homes and the infrastructure will have to be improved before we can accept any more.”
More importantly, June had her first meeting as the chair of the District Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It’s an ‘investigations’ committee that examines how the council administration – and other local bodies – are performing.
Up till now, the Conservatives had insisted on having one of their own people chairing it. But they agreed in April that the best person to chair a committee that examines what the Conservative Administration does is someone from outside that party.
So June is now the chair, and the rest of the committee is made up of 6 Tories plus lone councillor John Mason. Things got off to a good start at their first meeting this week. June proved she is an able chairman, and nearly all the committee seem enthusiastic. We’ll keep you advised on what investigations they will be carrying out.