New Chairman of the Council : Jim Grey
Vice-Chairman : Tony Humphries
Council Leader (for 4 years) : Terry Cutmore
Deputy Leader : Mavis Webster
Other Cabinet Members:
Michael Starke (Environment – includes parks and recycling)
Peter Webster (Finance )
Keith Gordon (Leisure, Tourism, Arts, Culture and Business)
Keith Hudson (Planning and Transportation)
Tracy Capon (Council Tax, Benefits and Strategic Housing functions))
Lesley Butcher (Young Persons, Adult Services, Community Care and Well-Being, Health and Community Safety)
Chair of Development Control (the old planning committee) Simon Smith
Vice-Chair : David Merrick
Chair of Review Committee – June Lumley (the only Lib Dem to chair anything)
Vice-Chair – Carole Weston
Membersof Local Development Framework Sub-Committee (the important one for allocating housing) :
Keith Hudson (Hockley)
Carole Weston (Hockley)
John Pullen (Rayleigh)
Chris Black (Rayleigh)
Trevor Goodwin (Great Wakering)
Keith Gordon (Rochford)
Chair of West Area Committee : John Pullen
Chair of Central Area Committee Carole Weston
Chair of East Area Committee : Trevor Goodwin
This does not really surprise me. As I said before, this is very much an insular council. It does not give credit to other parties that may have better qualified people to take some leading posts. It somehow exists from a bygone age. We really do need some councillors who think and act in the 21st century. Rochford District Council could be a beacon for other Councils to follow, alas the only comparison I can think of is the Dinosaur and look what happened to those creatures!
Just a very quick question but one that is vitally important to the district. The people that have been given strategic positions in the Council, do they have experience in their given roles and I don’t mean have they been in business or in positions of responsibility but has, for instance the head of development had experience, in the working environment of housing and development or the councillor in charge of Finance, is he an accountant or has he worked in finance previously. This is not meant to be critical of anyone given a responsible role, however these people can either shine in their given position or can bring disaster to the district, with all the financial impact that entails. I would be very interested and indeed believe this should be the case that we are all given a chance to see the CV’s of anyone given such a post. We, the residents, have the most to lose from putting the wrong person into the wrong role. So what actually goes into selecting people for these positions. I would very much, as a rate payer, like an answer to this question.
It’s a good question.
Well, the Cabinet member for finance and resources (Peter Webster) is a retired civil servant who I imagine worked with finance during his career and he is certainly familiar with council budgetting methods (though not IT)
As for development, the cabinet member for planning and transportation (Keith Hudson) is a retired busnessman. I think some people would be suspicious if we had an ex-developer in the role.
Looking down the list there are no obvious howling errors in the appointments that Terry Cutmore has made. Lesley Butcher’s appointment seems a particularly good one. Though the person now in charge of ‘Service Development/Improvement and Performance Management’, Mavis Webster, has the council’s IT included in her area and I don’t think she even has a computer yet at home.