Swansea Council’s Labour Leader, Cllr David Phillips said, “If we scrapped the Council’s Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer, we would be able to make a substantial contribution towards keeping the Tennis Centre open”.
Labour’s proposal is to revert to the previous practice of having the Council meetings chaired by the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor.
The current Presiding Officer has been a highly controversial figure having been moved into the post when she was forced to resign from the Social Services portfolio following the failure of Children’s Services and the appointment of an external Intervention Board to drive up progress.
Cllr Phillips said, “These two posts contribute nothing of value to the smooth operation of the Council and can easily be replaced. The money saved could be put to much better use”.
The presiding officer and deputy roles are by no means necessary when there is a Lord Mayor available to do this task, especially when it was the previous way to do things.
ReplyDeleteRene also seems to agree with you.
Getting rid of Wendy from the chair would save £22k. I'm not sure how much the deputy would save, but you've got to be looking at least a total of £30k.
But the biggest obstacle to overcome is getting Holley to reverse his policy on handing out prime officer and scrutiny board roles to his mates. "Don't worry lads and lasses, I'll look after you. The tax payers won't even know what's going on."