Private Eye - Naughty Boyos
The last edition of Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs column featured the libel indemnity granted to the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire Council which the appointed auditor has deemed unlawful - see...
View ArticleQuestions and answers..
A meeting of Pembrokeshire Council was be held yesterday so I thought I'd have a quick look at the agenda, given the current spotlight on the 'pension arrangements' and joined-up legal approach to...
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Unlawful payments, the story so far
To be honest, other than a lot of comment and speculation, no one, apart from the council officers involved, the Wales Audit Office (WAO) and a few executive Members, from both Pembrokeshire and...
View ArticleOnline interests
I noticed today, via Twitter, that Carmarthenshire Council is not the only council who refuses to publish, online, the Register of Member's Interests, gifts, hospitality etc. South Tyneside Council in...
View ArticleStradey call-in....called-in
Things must have got a little awkward the other week between the Council and the Welsh Government when Carl Sargeant (Minister for Planning) decided to call-in the Stradey homes development...
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Budget cuts meeting - 'a tragedy for democracy'
As the picture below illustrates, the budget cuts meeting held at Ffwrnes Theatre on Monday could probably have been held in Caebrwyn's shed for a quarter of the price.Unison staged a protest outside...
View ArticleUnlawful payments - Cllr Madge rules out suspension of Chief Executive..
Further to my most recent post on the subject, Unlawful payments, the story so far, the South Wales Guardian has made some enquiries;Kevin Madge rules out suspending chief executive Mark JamesWednesday...
View ArticleBudget cuts - The list
Update 30th October:The council has finally published a report on the seminar and the full list of proposed cuts, it can be found on their website. I have updated my list below, unfortunately it...
View ArticleFilming council meetings - A new law for England
(7th November; Update at the end of this post; the wording of the proposed amendment to allow filming)Earlier in the summer it became clear that councils in England were not following the guidance...
View ArticleNot the only option
We don't know when the council are going to get round to letting the rest of the county know its planned programme of cuts. The 'Budget seminar' is probably best forgotten. I expect it seemed quite a...
View ArticleExit packages
The Western Mail reports today on the generous exit packages paid out to senior council officers at Rhondda Cynon Taf Council. Five senior employees who left in the most recent financial year received...
View Article'Unlawful' payments - A full debate?
This week's South Wales Guardian reports that Council leader Kevin Madge has again promised a 'full debate' over the 'unlawful' payments at the next council meeting on the 13th November;Kevin Madge...
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Calling all Carmarthenshire businesses!
There continues to be some curiosity as to how the council's favourite rugby club have managed to advertise for jobs on the publicly funded council website. Have we all missed something here? Are all...
View Article'Unlawful' payments - still in the dark..
The current 'elephant in the room', or should I say mammoth, at our favourite local authority remains the issue of the 'unlawful' payments. Although I doubt you need reminding, this involves the...
View ArticleLocal papers, local assets
The parliamentary group of the National Union of Journalists met with culture and communications Minister Ed Vaizey MP yesterday as part of Stand Up for Journalism day. They put forward the idea that...
View Article'Unlawful' payments - Next week's agenda..
The Agenda for next week's full council meeting has just been published. It is the very meeting during which the 'unlawful' payments will be 'fully debated', according to council leader Kevin Madge in...
View Article'Unlawful' payments - Email from Leader to Councillors
Below is an email from council leader Kevin Madge dated 4th November 2013 addressed to all councillors. It confirms that, despite promising a 'full debate', there will actually be no debate at all over...
View ArticleComplaints in Wales - A candid view from the Ombudsman
There was an interesting and candid discussion last week between the Ombudsman, Peter Tyndall and the cross-party Welsh Assembly committee for Communities, Equalities and Local Government. Mr Tyndall,...
View ArticleAnother controversial debate rejected...
As I have previously reported, the decision to continue the financial bailout of Scarlets Regional Ltd, and the decision to offload parks and sports fields and ratchet up the charges for any which...
View ArticleNovember's meeting - 'Have the police been in touch yet?'
The meeting will be available to watch on archive tomorrow but I have a few initial comments. You'll have to forgive me for starting at the end of the meeting as I have an obvious, and I hope...
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