All in this together?

OK you've heard about the Bolsover Councillors awarding themselves the highest allowances of any District Council in the country but what about the pay of those who work for, rather than serve on, the authority? How do they fare?

And I'm not talking about the bosses and Directors who seem to be endlessly re-organised, I'm talking about the refuse collectors, craftspeople, office staff and housing assistants. Over 50 of them are paid less than the Living Wage of £7.20 per hour. That means that over 1 in 10 of the Council's staff get little more than the minimum wage. Apparently they are not "worth it".

Councils such as Green Party controlled Brighton along with forward thinking Labour authorities such as Lewsiham and most recently Preston (where I notice that the member allowance is nearly one third of the Bolsover rate) are doing something not just issuing platitudes so I've put down this question for the Leader to answer at the next Bolsover Council meeting. Let's see if whether he's more George Osborne than George Orwell.

"As his party has made sure that front-line councillors get the highest allowances of any District Council in the country would he like to show that he is equally concerned about front-line workers by joining the ranks of forward-thinking Councils such as Preston, Lewisham, Lambeth, Oxford and Brighton by making a commitment that Bolsover DC will become a Living Wage Employer thereby directly assisting the 50+ Council employees  who earn less than £7.20 per hour and who are suffering most from the coalitions cuts in services and increases in VAT and fuel costs?"

D- Day for Bolsover and Shirebrook

On Thursday the 25th August residents in Shirebrook will be able to give their own verdict on Bolsover Council in a by-election.

The Green Party will be contesting its second seat on the Council. So far our record is played one, won one - and with Ian Musgrove a truly inspirational local candidate we fully expect to continue our 100% record.

It might seem like slow progress but it is starting to dawn on the controlling Labour group that if we can win in both Whitwell and Shirebrook then we can win in any seat on Bolsover Council.

So if you're lucky enough to live in Shirebrook SW turn out and show him your support.

Duncan

High hopes for Shirebrook

Getting Green Councillors elected to District Councils normally takes years of hard work, building local support and explaining green party policies. My own election in Whitwell was very unusual as I only decided to stand a couple of months before the election was due however I know that my work for Whitwell against Alkane was a very significant factor in getting me elected.

On the 25th August there is a by-election in Shirebrook and the Green Party is delighted to be able to field one of the hardest working and dedicated candidates I have ever met:  Ian Musgrove. However there is no "Alkane" factor but we still finding that residents are genuinely impressed by Ian's refreshing approach and trust him to deliver for Shirebrook.

One green victory deep in Labour territory can be put down to chance, two victories however starts to feel like something more significant. We are all working very hard to make the 25th August a great night for the Green Party in Shirebrook, Bolsover and Derbyshire.

Not even the end of the beginning

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me and called me following the coverage in the Derbyshire Times and Mansfield Chad of the appalling decision by Bolsover Councillors to keep their sky-high allowances in spite of a call from their remuneration panel for a massive cut.

Some people have asked what I intend to do next and whether they can help. Well if we can borrow and twist a phrase from Churchill this is not even the end of the beginning on this issue. There are several aspects about how the decision was made which are almost as shocking as the decisions itself. And you can rest assured that every time the Council calls for cuts facilities, jobs and services I will be reminding them that if they hadn't scoffed so much of the cake for themselves there would be an extra £430,000 in the kitty.

Duncan

A note of thanks

I've been a Councillor now for nearly three months, so I thought I'd review the list of cases that people have brought to me. I knew a lot of them were about housing  - but was surprised to find that these amounted to two-thirds of my case-load. This has meant that I've had more dealings with housing than any other section, and I just like to pay tribute to the staff for their responsiveness on operational issues.

Sometimes Council staff get the blame when it's the Council policies or resource decisions, made by members, which are at fault, and sometimes members take the credit when it is the staff that have done the work, so it's important to separate the two. There are clearly some policies that need changing and concerns over resources but that's no reason not to thank the staff who deliver the service.

So good on ya.

Sometimes a dull life has its attractions..

The life of a Councillor is never dull, but two consecutive calls tonight made me chuckle. The first was a tenant in a bungalow who tells me that the Council plans to give him, and his neighbours, new front doors (hurray) but want them to open outwards not inwards!- it'll be a case of knock and get knocked over.

I'd just checked the calendar to make sure it wasn't the start of April when the next call arrived to report a dead sheep in a nearby field. I know we Green Councillors are concerned about all living things but even I was flummoxed by that one.

None so deaf.......

Council meeting today. I had failed to convince the Councillors of Bolsover that our allowances were too high, up until now they had relied on the expert advice of their independent remuneration panel. Last week the panel changed their advice and recommended a 47% cut based on comparisons with other authorities and the not unreasonable observation that being a member in Bolsover can't really be so different.

Guess what every Councillor, but me,  voted to ignore the panels recommendations. So for the next four years residents in Bolsover will keep having to fork-out for the highest member allowances of any District Council in England. It simply takes your breadth away....

But don't worry we're not giving-up!