Last Council Meeting closes harmoniously.

On Thursday I attended my last full County Council meeting.

Since it was the last meeting of the full council before the election in early May, the atmosphere during the early part of the meeting was fairly highly charged with political point scoring being the order of the day.  Both the Labour Party and UKIP introduced motions which, I suppose, were designed to embarrass the administration.  One was about Highways and the other about the democratic accountability of the Local Enterprise Partnership.  Both motions were fairly technical in nature however, which means that they were unlikely to resonate particularly strongly with the public at large.  I am not sure if either made much of splash in  the EADT.

Despite being four down the Conservatives managed to win both votes and thus see off any criticism.   In  recent months this has been the usual outcome, despite the fact that the Group has not always had a theoretical majority.  Luckily our record of attendance is good;  better than some of the opposition groups.  The Greens in particular seem to have put in a rather patchy performance.

The last hour or so of the meeting was taken up with reports and business from committees that are largely concerned with the internal workings of the council such as the Audit, Scrutiny, and Pension Fund Committees.  Although these do include members from different political parties, and, in the case of the Pension Fund Committee, representatives from the District Councils and also the Unions, these bodies have worked very effectively over the past four years,  It was good to hear politicians from all sides coming together in a mood of mutual congratulation, and, more importantly perhaps, praising the council’s excellent officers, for their extremely professional and efficient support.

Chief Executive, Deborah Cadman, Chairman Colin Spence and Vice Chairman Stephen Burroughs

Attending full council meetings has not been the part of the councillor’s role that I have most enjoyed, and I left the chamber shortly before the end without much feeling of regret.  The coming weeks, when I will be bidding farewell to the Parish Councils that I have worked with since 2013, will, I suspect, prove much more difficult.

Gone!