View from the District Council
We are now over 3 months into the new council, and everyone is settling in nicely.
After some protracted negotiations we finally settled on a coalition leadership with both the Independent Councillors and a single Lib Dem. Many people were unimpressed that I, as leader of the largest group, was giving way to the Lib Dems who only had five Councillors in total. Unfortunately, our group was made up of nine new Councillors and the other parties were not prepared to back an inexperienced group to lead the council. Conversely, we were not going to let the independent nominee, John Ward, remain as leader. The people had spoken, and we could not back the status quo. Consequently, we were stuck at a stale mate, with the Tories waiting in the wings to mix things up.
In the end we agreed on a revolutionary shared leadership deal, with the Lib Dem Councillor, Dave Busby, leading in year one, followed by Green Councillor, Deborah Saw, in years two and four and John Ward leading in year three. When not leading, the other two will both be deputy leaders. We also have the most posts on the executive with four positions while the independents have three and the one Lib Dem.
Since then, things have been pretty slow. It took several more weeks after the deal was agreed before a formal set of priorities were settled. What the exec agreed is that -
- We will take the lead in responding to the challenge of climate change and protecting and enhancing our natural and historic environments
- We are ambitious for our communities, economy, and young people.
- Strong communities will be built on good housing, well-being, and pride in the place we live.
We now plan to push the council to build on these commitments with some concrete actions that we will build out of the overarching ambitions.
One thing that I learnt in my first four years as a Councillor, is the thing that is frustrating my new colleagues. Getting things done at Babergh is a slow business. It’s like trying to turn the proverbial ocean liner. The officers and particularly the senior managers are set in their ways, and they will constantly put obstructions in the way of any new idea. Unfortunately for them the new Green Councillors are not there to hang around and with a much bigger group at Babergh, along with neighbouring Mid Suffolk leading their council, things could be quite interesting over the next few years. In fact, things already are. Watch this space.
Leigh Jamieson (Cllr)