Dispute over commitees at Lichfield District Council - councillors react

Last year the council approved a Labour amendment which put non-Tory councillors in charge of committees.

This meant many committee’s chair and vice-chair came from the minority Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors. However at the recent annual council meeting, Lichfield District Council Leader, Councillor Doug Pullen nominated all Conservative councillors to the heads of the committees.

The suggested committee chair and vice-chair from the council leader were:

Audit Committee

Chair: Cllr Joseph Powell

Vice-Chair: Cllr Mark Warfield

Standards Committee

Chair: Cllr David Salter

Vice-Chair: Cllr Sonia Wilcox

Planning Committee

Chair: Cllr Jamie Checkland

Vice-Chair: Cllr Derick Cross

Regulatory and Licensing Committee

Chair: Cllr Brian Yeates

Vice-Chair: Cllr Serena Mears

Employment Committee

Chair: Cllr Sonia Wilcox

Vice-Chair: Cllr Joseph Powell

Opposition leader, Councillor Sue Woodward proposed an amendment which would have kept current committee chairs. Other councillors raised objections to the planned appointments from the Council Leader.

Councillor Claire Booker said: “One of the key things we do here is represent our residents and I want this to be about representing the residents and not about party politics.

Councillor Paul Taylor, who had previously been praised for his work as chair of the audit committee, added “The proposals they’ve made have no collegiality in those chairs. Whereas the proposals we made last year had councillors, Leung, Yeates, Marshall and Cllr Wilcox as vice chairs of committees for proper collegiate working.”

However Cabinet Member for Housing and Local Plan, Councillor Alex Farrell hit back. He said: “Can I just set a set a bit of reality to the room, didn’t this happen last year where you took the chairs of some of our Conservative members. I don’t know why you’re talking about politics now when that happened 12 months ago.”

The amendment put forward by the opposition leader was defeated by 22 votes to 21. This means the original recommendation by the Council Leader was approved.

In a separate vote for the chairman of overview and scrutiny committee two nominations were received. Opposition Leader, Councillor Sue Woodward nominated current chair, Councillor Steve Norman, however the Council Leader, Doug Pullen nominated Councillor Wai-Lee Ho.

The contested nomination caused more controversy within the council chamber. Councillor Paul Tayor questioned how Councillor Ho would fulfil his duties.

He asked: “As the outgoing chair of audit committee, Councillor Ho’s personal situation did not allow him to attend a single meeting over the last 12 months. It’s highly relevant as to how Councillor Ho is going to fit in time to do all of the duties of the chair of overview and scrutiny.”

Council records show over the past 12 months, Councillor Ho has an attendance record of 33 per cent, compared to 100 per cent from Councillor Norman.

Councillor Ann Hughes added: “I understood it was good practice in a council, particularly in a council with no overall control to have a chair of overview and scrutiny who was not from the party in charge.”

A named vote was requested to record how each councillor voted for the election. In the end Councillor Steve Norman was elected with 23 votes compared to 21.

Speaking after the vote, Councillor Norman said: “I hope everybody understands that I will always listen to what they’ve got to say, I will always want to try and find ways for them to ask their questions. I’m very grateful for the support that the majority, clearly, have given me, especially from those on the other side.

“The important thing now is we’re going to be abolished, we need to make sure we can get the best we can for the people living in the area of Lichfield district now for the future of the next local authority that’s going to come along.”