Shirebrook councillors attendance in BDC
Since our investigation into the performance of councillors at Shirebrook Town Council (STC) led to the removal of two of them, we decided to check the performance of Shirebrook councillors at Bolsover District Council (BDC). While preparing a data for an article about STC attendance was a challenging and difficult undertaking, preparing a similar data from BDC meetings turned out to be a task for several weeks of work, a few hours each weekend.
The reason is simple – from an outsider like me, BDC is complete chaos immersed in the sauce of stunning bureaucracy. On top of that, there was a significant change to the archive system on website halfway through 2019. This change was the reason why we were not able to find several meeting minutes.
EXPECTATION
Since sitting at BDC fetch you the biggest cash payout in the UK (in rural district) we expect that our councillors will have decent attendance figures. Thanks to Labour Party- Councillors in BDC can earn ¾ of yearly national minimum wage just by showing up to ONE meeting per two months. That is it! Let’s say each meeting takes 3 hours. As a taxpayer, you will pay politicians almost 10000 pounds for 18 hours of “work” per year plus couple k on top if they Chair a committee.
Many of councillors do the bare minimum: show up to full council meeting and just sit there to collect money. To be fair- some of the councillors sit at least at one committee and do what they were chosen to do. But there is a slim margin of councillors who goes above and beyond: they attend many meetings, take a lot of work and do the job of several councillors. Those “special ones” receive sometimes a quarter or even less than the national minimum wage for their work. I think that is the reason why so few people from younger generations are interested in work for Council: if you want to do a good job but don’t have a pension, you will go bankrupt. Simply as that.
SHIREBROOK IN BDC
There are six of Shirebrook representatives in BDC and all of them are from the Labour Party. Labour leads BDC so we can expect that many of them will take leading roles in committees (chairman) and committees member roles. Side note: sitting in committee fetch you extra money (between 3000 and 5000 per year). Labour Party lost few seats so they don’t have enough councillors to allocate all of the committees chairs with different councillors. That’s why we expect that number of committees will have chairs that serve as “double chairs”. Let’s check if our expectations are in line with reality.
COMMITTEES
STC like to divide the attention of the public by splitting into several, unnecessary committees but BDC went full “bureaucracy ahead”. To be honest I’m no expert- maybe its normal to have 16 committees. But I’m also familiar with the love of bureaucracy from the Labour Party- so it does not surprise me. Yes. 16 different committees are our “norm”. In addition, there are 4 or 5 joint committees with Chesterfield council but those will be ignored in this report.
OUR COUNCILLORS
Probably you don’t know the majority of them. Usually, they remind about themselves right before the election and then they forgot about you for 4 years. No one report back to residents, no one organising community meetings, no one knock on the doors. Anyway, we have 6 District Councillors:
Stephen Fritchley, Sandra Peake, Chris Kane, Jennifer Wilson, David Downes and Janet Tait. How many of them are committees chairs? How many of them are committees members? How many of them attend meetings?
LAST NOTES
I gathered data from May 2019 until September 2020. There were meetings after that date but I focused on writing this article and not include them into the datasheet. Due to weird archive glitch on BDC website we missing entries in several committees (usually around June-August 2019). Before we move to DBC attendance its worth to remind that 5 of our District councillors also have a seat on STC. This is their attendance at STC meetings:
Steve Fritchley missed 1 out of 12 meetings
Chris Kane missed 2 of 12 meetings
Sandra Peake missed 3 of 12 meetings
David Downes missed 5 of 12 meetings
Jennifer Wilson missed 6 out of 12 meetings
We can clearly see on whom we should pay special attention (Jennifer Wilson and David Downes). Only BDC councillor without a seat at STC is Janet Tait.
FULL COUNCIL
This is the complete bottom line- you have to attend this meeting to know what is going on and keep a seat at BDC. All of 37 councillors are expected to attend. Full Council meets approximately every 2 months.
9 meetings (1 missing minutes), Chair Tom Munro
Steve Fritchley- present at 8 out of 8 attended
Sandra Peake- present at 8 out of 8 attended
Chris Kane- present at 7 out of 8 attended
Jennifer Wilson- present at 8 out of 8 attended
David Downes- present at 7 out of 8 attended
Janet Tait- present at 8 out of 8 attended
Our comment: as you can see- money is the best incentive. Most of our councillors have 100% attendance but when you compare attendance of same councillors in BDC and STC it looks like Jennifer Wilson and David Downes work only when they are handsomely paid.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
There are eight members of the Executive, each of whom is responsible for a portfolio of service areas. The Executive is responsible for most day to day areas of Council business, except for regulatory functions of the Council, such as planning and licensing matters, and staffing matters. It has responsibility for all budget and policy decisions within the framework set down by the Council.
14 meetings, (1 missing minutes), Chair Steve Fritchley
Steve Fritchley- present at 14 out of 14 (chair)
Sandra Peake- present at 13 out of 14
Chris Kane- present at 0 out of 14 (not a member)
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 out of 14 (not a member)
David Downes- present at 0 out of 14 (not a member)
Janet Tait- present at 0 out of 14 (not a member)
Our comment: two Shirebrook representatives suggest that our town should have a strong position in BDC. It’s weird because there was not a single BDC investment in Shirebrook in last 7 years…
BUDGET SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
There are four Scrutiny Committees that support the work of the Executive and the Council as a whole. They allow Members to consider council matters in greater detail leading to reports and recommendations which advise Executive on its policies, budget and service delivery.
4 meetings, Chair Jennifer Wilson
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 out of 4
Sandra Peake- present at 0 out of 4
Chris Kane- present at 2 out of 4
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 out of 4
David Downes- present at 4 out of 4
Janet Tait- present at 3 out of 4
Our comment: ok, this is funny. Councillors from Shirebrook- highly indebted town with a huge deficit in town budget are highly involved in budget scrutiny committee. Hilarious!
CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TRANSFORMATION SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
8 meetings, Chair Ros Bowler
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 out of 8
Sandra Peake- present at 0 out of 8
Chris Kane- present at 0 out of 8
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 out of 8
David Downes- present at 0 out of 8
Janet Tait- present at 0 out of 8
Comment: No one ever from Shirebrook attended a meeting. Customer service and transformation is not our thing 😉
GROWTH SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
10 meetings, (1 missing minutes), Chair Jennifer Wilson
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 out of 8
Sandra Peake- present at 0 out of 8
Chris Kane- present at 6 out of 8
Jennifer Wilson- present at 8 out of 8
David Downes- present at 0 out of 8
Janet Tait- present at 0 out of 8
Comment: Another committee with strong presence of Shirebrook members. Growth? Shirebrook? Those words strangely do not correlate. This town looks like its stuck in 1970 and without Sports Direct today it would be completely dead…
HEALTHY SAFE CLEAN AND GREEN SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
Discharges the statutory functions arising under Section 19 Police and Justice Act 2006 relating to crime and disorder.
5 meetings, (1 missing minutes), Chair David Downes
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 out of 5
Sandra Peake- present at 3 out of 5
Chris Kane- present at 0 out of 5
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 out of 5
David Downes- present at 4 out of 5
Janet Tait- present at 3 out of 5
Comment: another committee, another Chair from Shirebrook. It’s so weird- they involve themselves in things that Shirebrook lacks- safety, growth, clean. Nothing that you can see in Shirebrook. Maybe they are so focused to bring that to other communities that they forgot about the place they came from?
GENERAL LICENSING COMMITTEE
No meetings between May 2019 and September 2020
GENERAL LICENSING SUBCOMMITTEE
The matters dealt with include taxi licensing (hackney carriage and private hire), scrap metal sites and operators and matters under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 (as amended by the Police and Crime Act 2009).
6 meetings, Chair Ray Heffer
Steve Fritchley- present at 3 out of 6
Sandra Peake- present at 4 out of 6
Chris Kane- present at 0 out of 6
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 out of 6
David Downes- present at 0 out of 6
Janet Tait- present at 0 out of 6
Comment: the only instance where you can be dissatisfied with Steve Fritchley performance as a committee member. It’s unusual for him.
LICENSING AND GAMBLING ACTS COMMITTEE
One meeting planned for October 2020- cancelled
LICENSING AND GAMBLING ACTS SUBCOMMITTEE
All meetings since May 2019 cancelled
PLANNING COMMITTEE
The Planning Committee is responsible overall for the granting and refusal of planning applications, listed building consent and other regulatory functions relating to planning of the Council.
7 meetings, (1 missing minutes), Chair Tom Munro
Steve Fritchley- present at 6 out of 7
Sandra Peake- present at 0 out of 7
Chris Kane- present at 6 out of 7
Jennifer Wilson- present at 6 out of 7
David Downes- present at 0 out of 7
Janet Tait- present at 7 out of 7
Comment: another strong presence from Shirebrook representatives. At this point, you can see that Labour focus only on committees involved with power, money and influence. Those committees which deal with less important stuff are left for independent councillors. Planning is key and always involves huge amounts of money- probably this is the reason for such a strong presence and high attendance figures.
AUDIT COMMITTEE
The Audit Committee is made up of 5 Members who are not Members of the Executive. An independent co-opted member is also appointed to the Committee as the Vice-Chair. The purpose of the Audit Committee is to provide independent assurance of the adequacy of the risk management framework and the associated control environment, independent scrutiny of the Council’s financial and non-financial performance to the extent that it affects the Authority’s exposure to risk and weakens the control environment.
3 meetings, (1 missing minutes), Chair Tom Munro
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 out of 3
Sandra Peake- present at 0 out of 3
Chris Kane- present at 2 out of 3
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 out of 3
David Downes- present at 0 out of 3
Janet Tait- present at 0 out of 3
Comment: Two of Shirebrook councillors are not allowed due to involvement in Executive. David Downes is not down to do anything than the bare minimum. Jennifer Wilson holds 2 chair positions and probably have enough to do. That leaves us 2 to spare. One of them decided to keep tabs on audit issues.
STANDARDS COMMITTEE
The Standards Committee is a politically balanced Committee of the Council responsible for promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct by members and co-opted Members of the District Council and of the Town and Parish Councils within the District.
3 meetings, (1 missing minutes), Chair Ruth Jaffrey
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 out of 3
Sandra Peake- present at 0 out of 3
Chris Kane- present at 0 out of 3
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 out of 3
David Downes- listed as a member but present at 0 out of 3
Janet Tait- present at 0 out of 3
Comment: A glaring example of how a councillor David Downes approaches his duties. I’m far from complaining about councillors who are not members of committees and don’t attend meetings. But if you are listed as MEMBER and don’t show up on a single meeting- that is bad. Really bad.
EMPLOYEE APPEALS COMMITTEE
The purpose of the Employee Appeals Committee is to consider and determine appears against dismissals arising from employment procedures (e.g disciplinary, capability, sickness absence, etc.), with the exception of the Senior Management Team. Meetings of the Committee are only scheduled when a hearing is required and are therefore very infrequent.
1 meeting, Chair Nick Clarke
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 of 1
Sandra Peake- present at 0 of 1
Chris Kane- present at 0 of 1
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 of 1
David Downes- present at 0 of 1
Janet Tait- present at 1 of 1
Comment: looks like there is not much to appeal in BDC. Everybody happy, moving on…
SAFETY COMMITTEE
The purpose of the Committee is to promote cooperation between the council and its employees in developing and carrying out measures to manage health and safety risks and to secure the health and safety of employees, service users, contractors and any others who may be affected by the work of the Council.
3 meetings, (1 meeting adjourned due to lack of quorum),Chair David Dixon
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 of 3
Sandra Peake- present at 0 of 3
Chris Kane- present at 0 of 3
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 of 3
David Downes- present at 0 of 3
Janet Tait- present at 0 of 3
Comment: zero presence of Shirebrook and Chair representing the Conservative Party. You know that this is not an important committee for Labour Party when they allow their “sworn enemy” to take the charge.
UNION/EMPLOYEE CONSULTATION COMMITTEE
The Committee’s objectives are to enable consultation and negotiation between management and employees on employee relations, working arrangements and terms and conditions.
3 meetings, (1 missing minutes), Chair- union member
Steve Fritchley- present at 0 of 3
Sandra Peake- present at 0 of 3
Chris Kane- present at 0 of 3
Jennifer Wilson- present at 0 of 3
David Downes- present at 0 of 3
Janet Tait- present at 0 of 3
Comment: same as above- zero presence of Shirebrook. You know that is not an important committee.
SUMMARY
There were 73 meetings that we included in this report. We know that councillors do not have to attend all of them but list of how many they do attend should show us who work and who is not.
Steve Fritchley- present at 31 out of 73 meetings (Chair of 1 committee)
Sandra Peake- present at 28 out of 73 meetings
Chris Kane- present at 23 out of 73 meetings
Jennifer Wilson- present at 22 out of 73 meetings (Chair of 2 committees)
Janet Tait- present at 22 out of 73 meetings
David Downes- present at 15 out of 73 meetings (Chair of 1 committee)
At this point, we can clearly declare that David Downes is least involved from all of Shirebrook councillors. His low attendance at both STC and BDC meetings stands out from the work of other councillors. Rest of councillors shares a more or less equal amount of work with strong lead from Steve Fritchley who note high attendance on both STC and BDC meetings.
Labour holds 18 seats at BDC. Third (6) of them are Shirebrook seats. It’s clear that our town is key for Labour Party dominance over BDC. If that is the case- why Labour treats this town so bad? No investments, constant tax rises, no activity in the community, ignoring calls for CCTV and no investments in community safety, creation of long-term debt, almost full year without STC meetings…
It’s like they know that Shirebrook is theirs no matter what they do here, but they losing hold on District and that’s why they deliver for other areas but not ours. Just my theory…
Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com
Picture: pexels.com
