No Confidence In Hereford Council

[megilleland]

Hereford Times website tonight:

 

Herefordshire Council rocked as Bromyard councillor Alan Seldon defects

 

2:33pm Tuesday 12th November 2013 in News By Bill Tanner

 

HEREFORDSHIRE Council has been rocked by another high profile defection with a crucial by-election now just days away.

 

This afternoon (Tues), It’s OUR County (IOC) confirmed that Bromyard councillor Alan Seldon, chairman of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee had joined its ranks from the Independent group.

 

IOC group leader Councillor  Anthony Powers, said he was “delighted†to welcome Coun Seldon so close to the Pontrilas by-election which could leave the council with no overall control if the Tories lose.

 

The defection, said Coun Powers, sends a strong message to the electorate.

 

“Alan brings his very considerable experience and abilities both as a councillor and an active member of the national Local Government Association; he will be a greatly valued addition to our team,†he said.

 

Coun Seldon said he not taken defection lightly and had been “wrestling†with the decision for some time along with his “frustration† at what he felt was the Independents’ lack of direction, organisation and coherence as a group.

 

“I recognise IOC as having strong policies for Herefordshire and a real ability to work together as a team in the challenging times we all face.  To fulfil my duties and responsibilities as a ward member in Bromyard, it is essential to have a good team to back me up, and at a strategic level I know that the only group making a real difference to the future prospects of Herefordshire is IOC,†he said.

[dippyhippy]

Hello Everybody!

I took the plunge, just posting this to see if it works.....

[Ubique]

Dippyhippy , so many welcomes from Ubique - aka you know who ! It's a super sutw

[dippyhippy]

Hi Ubique!

I only twigged about an hour or so ago!

This forum has so many buttons, I feel completely out of my depth!

Hell to everybody else, this is just like being the new kid in the playground!

 

On this subject, I am in!

As I said to Bobby, on HT, I think we should wait until the results of the Pontrilas by election are known. We need to establish just how much clout IOC will have.

[dippyhippy]

Oh my, that should have read "Hello" to everybody else!

No offence meant!

[Biomech]

Dippy, you'll be pleased to know that this site also has a "thumbs up" voting system for comments ;)

[dippyhippy]

 

Nooooo, say this isn't so.....

I Haven't seen any sign of the dreaded thumbs,which means they must be hidden ones...even more sinister methinks.

I also posted this reply on another thread by mistake, sorry about that, this is all a bit technical for me,well that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.....

[megilleland]

^^ This is why "democracy" doesn't work, not only does the winning party have the minority of votes, they spend more time arguing amongst themselves than actually getting things done!

 

However behind the scenes a lot is being organised not for the benefit of local citizens nor necessarily by councillors. National government plays the lead role in giving us what we think is democracy. I have predicted that we are seeing the demise of our local authorities, to be replaced by regional enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and professional interests. These selected people, not democratically elected, will decide what is good for us and how the local economy will be controlled.

 

I have been reading about Common Purpose on UK Column and the establishment of an organisation named "Locality" and where it has been established throughout the UK.

 

Surprisingly or not Herefordshire Council has gone overboard with this idea while the IEWM provided Herefordshire Council with £212,500 to support the development of this way of working. Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands (IEWM) is the brand name of the West Midlands Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP).

 

Locality working in Herefordshire

Working in partnership with empowered communities - local people involved in local decisions and given more control over local issues. Who are the important key partners for locality working? You can find a list of all those currently listed on the contacts database for locality working (Excel document) on the Council's website Locality page. Click on "Who are the important key partners for locality working"?

 

Is this a scheme to establish a select consultation group when issues affecting ordinary citizens are raised?

[dippyhippy]

That's one hell of a list megilleland,I followed the "locality page" link.

Is this part of the "one stop shop" way of working, which has been in the pipeline - where, for example you have specific social workers attatched to named schools and so on?

Supposedly meant to provide "seamless" service,I have witnessed folk in full headless chicken mode, as bits of this are implemented!

[megilleland]

Locality Manager - Balfour Beatty

 

 

Job Description

Locality Manager Herefordshire To form part of the contract senior management team and undertake a range of operational and management tasks independently. Managing a specific team responsible for the delivery of a number of services within contract.

 

About the Role

* Applying personal knowledge to a range of common, routine and complex work in a department or unit.

* Establish and build positive working relationships within the business and customer base in order to improve understanding of business workings and relationships

* Ensure that all business documentation is completed fully and files accordingly

* Ensure that personal records are complete and up to date in order to fulfil requirements of institute or further education/qualification

* Undertake personal training and development as required in order to build own skill, knowledge and competence in a range of business situations

 

What you will need

* Detailed understanding of delivering services within a local authority environment.

* Experience of managing a delivery team, who are likely to work remotely.

* Awareness of the political drivers that can influence day-to-day decisions in local service delivery.

* Experience of developing and implementing a team strategy/business plan, delivering greater effectiveness and efficiency.

* Using ICT systems needed to set team targets and monitor and report service delivery progress.

* Degree or equivalent qualification.

 

A bit about us: Balfour Beatty Living Places works in partnership with local authorities to maintain and manage the roads, street lighting and public realm infrastructure modern communities and economies need.

 

Building close, long-term relationships, we use our expertise and resources to deliver sustainable value for money contracts covering a number of vital local services. With significant experience in delivering roads maintenance, street lighting, public realm improvements, traffic management and winter maintenance, our teams focus on providing exceptional customer service and take innovative approaches to minimise disruption to local residents, businesses and the environment.

 

Closing Date - January 6th 2014

 

Will this make any difference to getting our drains unblocked and pot holes filled in? These Locality Managers look as if they are upsurping our elected councillors. See post above.

[Glenda Powell]

I saw men from BB on Christmas Eve morning in a tanker going up Charlton Ave I stopped them and ask as they had the right equipment for the job could they clear the water that had accumilated on the road they said they were on the way to another flooded road but would come back, and they did staying for about an hour to clear the road. It wasn't until I went out to thank them that I told them I was the local councillor living in the area!!

[flamboyant]

I'm going to hazard a guess what the initials of the lucky recipient of this new post are, my guess is PG.  I'm also going to stick my neck out and guess that this involves the calls for Balfour Beatty currently taken by Customer Services being transferred to BB. Sincerely hope I'm wrong! It would mean Herefordshire Council lose complete control over Balfour Beatty and have no way of checking the work requested is undertaken. Now either I am completely wrong, I have a crystal ball or Herefordshire Council decision makers really are complete and utter morons and are hell bent on  maintaining 100% incompetency! I'm confident it's the latter! If this post goes to PG we are completely doomed! The public should be asking where are these remote locations and how secure is their personal information? The public should also be informed if Council Databases containing residents addresses, emails and phone numbers are going to be handed over to Balfour Beatty without their consent? I have called the Council many times and never been told my information could be passed to another company, if I had I wouldn't have given it!

[megilleland]

Ask them if they filled in this form in 2009. WM audit final 1 (2).pdf

 

Developing and using Customer Insight as a Strategic Asset

 

Baseline Audit Tool Part 1 - Council Data Sets Questionnaire

 

Section 2: Turning data into intelligence

For data to become useful it needs to acquire a meaning i.e. some form of context-geographical area, gender/age grouping, such that it becomes information e.g. aggregating the numbers of residents in a ward who are female, aged 80+ and who are in receipt of a Bus Pass, could facilitate a decision on whether to increase or decrease the frequency of buses travelling a particular route, thus the data has generated knowledge for decision-makers. This section seeks to develop that understanding.

 

and Section 4: Sharing and using this data set

 

and Q26 Who is this data collected for?