Reform UK take all chairman and vice-chairman roles on Nottinghamshire County Council committees despite opposition
All-Reform committee leadership roles have been approved despite opposition from Conservatives, Labour, and independents.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s committee chairmen and vice-chairmen will all be councillors from the ruling party, a vote has decided, breaking previous practice of vice-chairmen being opposition members.
Reform UK’s Mick Barton, the new leader of the council, asserted at a meeting on Thursday, May 22, that the party had taken “a democratic decision” to make the change to the committee leadership.
The decision faced widespread criticism from opposition groups at the council, who have branded the move “very concerning” and like Reform “marking their own homework”.
Conservative group leader, and leader of the opposition, Sam Smith, had spoken to the Advertiser about the plans previously, suggesting they were against good governance practice, removed experienced councillors from those roles, and could lead the council down the road of the bankrupt Nottingham City Council which has no opposition scrutiny roles.
He echoed his concerns at the meeting, and said: “It risks worse children and family services, it risks our communities receiving worse services and libraries being cut, it risks highways not being repaired properly, it risks adults right across the county who receive adult social care receiving worse services, it risks poor planning decisions being made, and it risks poor financial management.
“Reform, or any other body across the country, marking their own homework raises one question… what is there to hide? What are you hiding from the people of Nottinghamshire? What are you hiding from the Conservative opposition?
“Whatever it is we will find it, and we will work on behalf of our residents to improve and protect those services. Nottinghamshire deserves better.”
Jonathan Wheeler asked the new leadership to ‘reflect’ on their decision, and added:
“When we were the administration, we weren’t afraid to have opposition members in senior positions within scrutiny committees, because we knew we ran a very good council… It does risk the impression on the public that you may be afraid of scrutiny and other policies.”
He expressed further concerns about Reform councillors taking on dual roles due to the workload required, and of the number of deputy cabinet roles left unfilled.
“I honestly think you are going to regret at bare minimum not bringing the knowledge from this side into your decision making,” Johno Lee added.
“The next peer review I think you will be criticised for not sharing at least the scrutiny committee. I’ll be able to say ‘told you so’, or if not you’ll be able to say to me ‘Councillor Lee, we told you so’ — but I’ve got a little more experience than you on that.”
Broxtowe Independent Group’s Steve Carr backed up the Conservatives’ concerns. He said the plan “doesn’t feel like democracy” to him, and suggested it was a “very, very dangerous situation to be in” to have one party holding all the roles.
He gave an example of the Reform UK group on Cornwall’s council having raised an issue with the Local Government Association that they hadn’t been allowed ‘any meaningful representation’ on council committees as the opposition group.
“What’s good enough for Cornwall, surely should be good enough for Nottinghamshire — and quite frankly, it feels more like a dictatorship than a democracy,” Mr Carr added.
Labour’s Penny Gowland added: “Councillor Barton, you said at the beginning of the meeting how you wanted to work collaboratively and I think this would be a good way to show that, by bringing in other people as vice-chairs.”
She commented on the “very inclusive” committee structure which had previously existed at the council having been replaced with the cabinet system by the Conservatives, which is what had “let to this position’.
Mick Barton said: “There is no risk whatsoever. I take some of your points, but you still have the same political balance on every committee.
“You’ve still got your voice on that committee whether you’re vice chair or not.
“We took a democratic decision, which is also part of this establishment, and the democratic decision was that we were going to take the vice chairs. It’s a simple as that.”
The plans were passed, with 34 voting in favour, and 24 voting against.
The new committee leadership is:
Overview Committee — chairman Cathy Mason and vice-chairman Terry Cox.
Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee — chairman Jody Stoll and vice-chairman Joseph Rich.
Children and Families Select Committee — chairman Richard Darrington and vice-chairman Christopher Adegoke.
Place Select Committee — chairman Kevin Brown and vice-chairman John Semens.
Governance and Ethics Committee — chairman Jim Vernon and vice-chairman Wendy Lukacs.
Health and Wellbeing Board — chairman Dr John Doddy and a voice-chairman appointed by the board.
Health Scrutiny Committee — chairman Mike Robertson and vice-chairman Simon Wright.
Joint Committee on Mineral and Waste Planning — chairman from the city council and vice-chairman Bert Bingham.
Nottinghamshire Pension Fund Committee — chairman James Gamble and vice-chairman Faz Choudhury.
Planning and Rights of Way Committee — chairman Russell Dodd and vice-chairman Brian Wheatcroft.
