Welsh Conservatives have asked for a Welsh Government investigation after it emerged that Labour Councillors have been recruiting party activists to ask planted questions at full council meetings in Swansea.
Shadow Local Government Secretary, Janet Finch-Saunders, raised the issue during Local Government Questions in the Senedd today.
Public Questions is a time-limited slot (10 minutes) during each meeting of full council where members of the public have an opportunity to ask questions of Cabinet members.
A leaked email – see Notes to Editors – has revealed that Councillors on Labour-run Swansea Council are trying to place “stooge questions” from party activists, in order to make the administration look good.
The “recruitment drive” was conducted via a publicly funded email address to party colleagues.
Janet Finch-Saunders AM is calling on the Welsh Government to open a formal investigation into conduct that she says breaks the council code of conduct, and “makes a mockery” of public engagement.
She said:
“This kind of behaviour undermines public confidence in local government and the Welsh Government needs to take action.
“This is 21st Century Wales – not the Soviet Union, and it is shocking to see cabinet members openly recruiting stooge questions from party activists.
“Public Questions are an opportunity for residents to raise genuine concerns with the council leader, and this behaviour makes a mockery of the council and reminds us why the public is so cynical about politics and politicians.”
Notes to Editors:
The email below was sent by Labour Cabinet Member (Cllr Mark Child) to party activists, urging Labour Party colleagues to plant friendly questions, ahead of full council on the 26th October.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Child, Mark (Councillor) <Cllr.Mark.Child@swansea.gov.uk>
Date: 10 October 2017 at 17:41:44 +01:00
Subject: question to full council - Underhill playground
To: [emails]
Hi David et al,
See Q & A from Will Thomas, and then from Cllrs Lyndon Jones, Myles Langstone & Linda Tyler-Lloyd.
Next full council is Thurs 26th Oct 5pm
There is an opportunity to ask questions from the public gallery at Full Council.
CllrWill Thomas
We would like to bring the Cabinet's attention to the poor state of the children's play area at Underhill Park which is in desperate need of an upgrade. The park is in a popular and central location in Mumbles and parents across the area have raised issue with its current condition. It is worth noting that it is actually unsafe and, unfortunately, a child recently cut their leg on a nail at the park.
I would be grateful if the Cabinet could commit the necessary funding to ensure that this play area is updated and brought up to a safe standard for children in our wards to enjoy.
Response of the Cabinet Member forCulture, Tourism & Major Projects
During the latest inspection the playground has been deemed RED on the RAG list and a number of items of wooden play equipment need to be removed. The items that need to be replaced are 1 infant multiplay unit (approx. cost £8 to £10k), 1 set of infant swings (approx. cost £3 to £5k) and 1 junior multiplay unit (approx. cost £12 to £20k), although unfortunately Parks Services do not have a budget to replace this equipment.
Alternative sources of funding will continue to be explored.
Could someone ask
“Could the cabinet member inform me if a similar situation exists for playgrounds in the neighbouring ward of West Cross?”
At which point we could say that we have used our money to renew all our parks, what have the Conservatives been doing in Oystermouth? Clearly they haven’t prioritised this.
CllrsLyndon Jones, Myles Langstone & Linda Tyler-Lloyd.
There is huge support for a cycle path / walkway from Murton in the Bishopston Ward to the Mayals. There is no pavement connecting these two communities, so walkers and cyclists have to use the very busy road, which can be particularly dangerous. In the report to the last full council about the first 100 days, it said that it was one of the aims of the Council to increase access to safe cycling and walking. A wider scheme including this project, was turned down a few years ago by the Welsh Assembly Government. Does the Council have any plans itself or with grant funding from elsewhere, to give the green light to this project, or is it just an aspiration.
Response of the Cabinet Member forEnvironment Services
The support for the path is understood and the Council applied for funding to develop and deliver the scheme through the Safe Routes to Communities Fund in February 2017, but this was sadly rejected by the Welsh Government on this occasion. The Council has done some preliminary work to consider the practicalities of delivering the path, and there is a reasonable understanding on the likely costs and feasibility, but the scheme would need a good deal more design to work it up to a stage from which it can be delivered.
The main challenges to the delivery of the scheme are as follows:
Land Ownership:The land adjacent to the B4436 as it crosses the Clyne Common, is not owned by the Council. The Council has not yet undertaken land ownership searches and it is therefore not possible as yet to determine how many land owners might be involved in the delivery of the scheme. This element is therefore largely unknown and further design would be required to look into this matter.
Common Land:This is a substantial issue and one that can be fraught with difficulty. The Common Land Act can be quite unwieldy and the timescales involved in this one element are very difficult to determine. Essentially following a period of consultation with local residents and Commoners, the Council could make an application to the Welsh Government’s Planning Inspectorate to exchange land to allow for the delivery of the scheme. This process can take between 12 to 18 months to complete, and its outcome is fairly unpredictable. This is obviously a reasonable resource implication, and again it is difficult to justify this when we are currently unable to fund even the design element.
Funding:In light of the current restrictions on transport capital infrastructure spending, the Council is not able to fund the preliminary development of these scheme. Similarly, the grant funding pots that the Council ordinarily relies upon are also now being either severely reduced or removed altogether. I am sure that there will be opportunities to bid for funding in future years, but projects such as this are difficult to secure funding for because they cannot be delivered in a single calendar year (as the grants run year-to-year and expect to see a tangible product at the conclusion of the grant). In the first instance, the Engineers within the Highways & Transportation Team would be pleased to undertake the preliminary assessments it allow the scheme to progress if funding could be identified to support this.
The Council’s current position is therefore to seek funding to deliver the scheme as the opportunity arises. It is therefore unlikely that we will next have opportunity to seek funding for the scheme until early-2018.
Could someone ask whose idea this was so we can reply
“this was in Labour’s proposals for Bishopston, they are just trying to jump on the bandwagon. At least if it was build the labour candidate could use it, unlike the current Tory Councillor for Bishopston”