10 days

I’m not in the habit of simply processing Waverley press releases, but this one is certainly worthy. In the light of the economic circumstances, the council will aim to pay as many bills from local businesses as possible, within 10 days. A challenging aspiration, but a good one.

There’s no specific target as yet, but I’ll see if I can get a measurement after the first month.

Council Tax does not equal Rent Increase

Had a good swap of emails with an opposition member yesterday, regarding his proposal to reduce cyclical maintenance in the budget, in order to peg the increase in social housing rent, to be the same percentage as the proposed council tax increase.

At first glance, the principle of keeping the rent as low as possible drew my interest, and I'm always one to investigate such a possibility, whether it comes from a Tory colleague, or the opposition. However, on further detials, and consideration, I believe that the proposal confuses good aspirations, with a slight lack of medium-to-long term thinking, and, a simplistic view of percentages.

The budget for cyclical maintenance has been pretty low in recent years, and both main parties in Waverley held the same desire to increase this, but both have operated under the same horrendous constraints of the negative housing subsidy. However, even in this envrionment, it is myopic to think that saving money now on maintenace, will not translate into greater costs in the long-term.

Therefore, deciding to increase this maintenance budget by 60% for 2009/10 is a considered, and responsible step. A proposal to reduce it in order to align two percentages, which don't in reality relate, may well be more political posturing than community compassion.

In the words of a fellow councillor:

Rent is a charge for the right to occupy a dwelling and for it to be maintained by the landlord (in contrast to homeowners who meet their own maintenance costs as well as paying mortgage charges in most cases) while Council Tax is charged for the services provided to all occupiers, irrespective of the nature of their tenure.

As landlords it is imperative that we are honest and accurate about our budget needs, and certainly must do our very best to maintain our housing stock to as good a standard as possible. This year's increase of 60% represents that judgment, and adjusting that to match council tax as a percentage, and thus make a good headline, is not good leadership.

Ponder

A member of the opposition on Waverley Borough Council has just emailed all councillors with information about a potential budget cut that would allow us to reduce the proposed increase in rent for our housing.

I'm certain that colleagues would tell me that there's many a pitfall here, as line items in budgets (printed in agenda) will never tell the whole story. However, at first glance it seems as though there may be an option here, and, with my over-riding desire to see residents get the very best possible service from us, I've emailed to follow-up and find out more.

For the outcome you can attend the meeting on Tuesday evening at the council chamber, or, watch online.

Bumper Book of "Local" Government Waste...

... is what we are very consciously avoiding in our budget plans for 2009/10 (even though the book isn't yet written, I reckon it's only a matter of time). In fact, the past two years' budget have had a phenomonal amount of success is drawing out unnecessary line items that, whilst good in one sense, are not central or essential to the working of the borough, and are needed in order to keep our budget balanced.

This year is particularly challenging for all sorts of reasons, but even so, even with the 'Star Chambers' (challenge sessions where heads of service at Waverley have their budget reviewed in great detail and are requested to submit saving proposals) complete, and the budget drafted, we can still find some items that should go.

Tonight at the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny committee a number of items were highlighted including:

(1) £54,000 for a Marquee Theatre Space; and
(2) £35,000 for headstone risk assessment.

It's not certain these will get removed, but, the whole point of the O&S committees is too provide a rigorous challenge to the plans of the council, to ensure that anything approved is actually required. In our present economic situation, it's only right that items such as the ones above have to be proved beyond doubt to be important for 2009/10, and essential to the carrying out of Waverley's duties.

More news as we get closer to the full council at which the budget - in whatever form - must be approved.

I'm an M&S man

Yes, I confess it, I'm an M&S man, and today I even managed to buy some clothes on my own, and, when I arrived home my wife approved! ;-)

More importantly though, one could notice a distinct lack of shoppers.

If M&S is being abandoned, I must presume that the recession is biting.

Very odd numbers

The good news is that the change in VAT rate from today is being passed on in its entirety by Waverley Borough Council.

The bad news - although it's barely bad news let's face it - is that some of the charges (in the words of Graeme Clark at Waverley), are now

odd amounts replacing neat, rounded amounts.

So, not really bad news at all, and, with car parking not subject to VAT, that's certainly a bit more good news!

It's good to talk - even when it's difficult

0800 038 0700

Launched in October, Waverley's project "Don't lose your home or business", now has a freephone number. It's been a while since I added a new contact number to the Good to Talk sidebar, but this one is essential in such difficult economic climes.

Please do make contact if you or your business is struggling with extra burdens because of the looming recession. Waverley have access to all sorts of resources and people that can help, and will do so in the swiftest way.

Conservative Councillor Compassion

A colleague of mine on the Borough Council sent a wonderfully compassionate and passionate email this week, about the immense challenges facing all of us in the coming recession, and stressing our responsibility to provide as much assistance as possible by way of free advice and training services.

[Writing such an email - appealing to the core nature of fellow councillors as individuals community representatives, and not as political animals - is not as easy as it may sound, and can feel as if it is a little risky and vulnerable.]

As the Waverley representative on the board of trustees of Citizens Advice Waverley, I completely agree, and will be campaigning vigourously for the CA Bureaux to be given as much financial help as possible these coming months, with the main emphasis on the grants given through the Waverley Community Partnership. The process has started, with the deadline for applications already passed, with decisions being made in February. It's by far the main funding source for CA, and I believe that this year is not one where WBC can simply freeze the amount, or add a small nominal percentage.

Rather, I believe we're going to have to make some tough decisions (precisly what - in part - we were elected to do) and choose not only to fund CA and other critical organisations more generously, but also to choose not to fund other groups that in many years past, and in years to come, will be natural and deserving recipients of grants from the council.

ITIL

Anything that begins with IT is probably a turn-off for most people, but this afternoon I did have a very enjoyable conversation with Linda Frame, the new IT manager at Waverley.

Last year's audit report including recommendations that the council implement ITIL. It's a an approach to delivering IT services, developed by the Office of Government Commerce, and now adopted by pretty much every leading organisation in the world. I work with it permanently in my day job, so Linda and I had a good time discussing how it's going to be implemented over the next few months.

As much as anything it's a big culture change, as it applies good but firm rules to how things are changed and managed in the world of IT. Ultimately, it will prevent costly mistakes, identify systemic problems, track the utilisation of what are expensive assets, and (from the Audit Commission's point of view), introduce an level of control over access to these computing resources on which are held the council's finances.

Well, I've probably bored a few of you, educated another few, and maybe even intrigued a couple. Like most things at the council though, it's the things that live most of their time behind the scenes, that deliver the foundation of the good services we aim to deliver.

Children catch everything - and so do their Dads

I was supposed to be at a finance seminar this evening, but instead I'm realising first hand how easily Dads can catch viruses / colds / .... just about anything in fact, from their children. The doctor calls it a 'post viral' something, and so, with a medical name (even including some latin) my hope of a miracle cure in the vein of Calpol surfaced. But alas. Only a brief comment about it going away in a day or two, and taking some paracetemol if I felt I needed to.

So, I'm at home, about to sleep, and feeling decidedly under the weather. The only good thing to come out of this is that my empathy for parents everywhere has increased.

Thinking

Well, I'm sat at my desk in Stockley Park near Heathrow, with 8 minutes until my next meeting. I don't have anything particular to post, so thought I'd simply dump a list of things that are going through my head:

(1) I sometimes feel impotent as a borough councillor. Whilst I want to hear things that need fixing locally, it seems like once I get into it, there are simply too many layers of bureacracy to go through, and then no one person who feels empowered to make a decision, and, often, to spend money. Good control over finances and other resources of local government is absolutely right, but just sometimes, I wish for a small fund to help things move along locally. Maybe I should be a County Councillor!

(2) East Street - contract considerations will come along soon. Now that planning permission has been given (with many conditions to be met), the contract now has to be considered and the viability test reviewed. Watch this space...

(3) A couple of tree preservation orders need some attention. One is longstanding, and I simply can't see a way forward. Another is fairly new, and I need to get my head around it for the first time. The key thing is understanding the phrase 'amenity' and wondering how best to define it.

Don't Panic!

Phew - a short but very comforting email that I wanted to share straightaway.

The airwaves have been full of information about Council's whose reserves have been put at risk by being located in the savings accounts of some of the Icelandic banks that in these past days have been taken under state control.

However, today, the head of finance at Waverley, Paul Wenham, and the portfolio for finance on the council's executive, Mike Band, have told us that

We would like to reassure members that Waverley Borough Council does not currently have any cash investments with any of the Icelandic banks.

Very good news.

Face recognition, and other stories

A few random thoughts today

1. I sometimes find it hard to put names to faces, especially when out of context. I bumped into a lovely lady in the Wrecclesham Post Office today, who I know I've spoken with at a village meeting (I think), but in the PO, I really couldn't place her name. It happened to me the other day on the train - a regular customer at our coffee ship, and blow me if I could work why I knew her, and why she was smiling nicely at me in familiar ways.

2. I'm still envious of Jeremy. Watching the pursuit cycling team win gold today was the reason.

3. The pile of reading material on my bedside table has increased by one. I received a booklet about Audit Committees, as I joined that committee this year, and the next meet is in a month or so. I'll take it on a flight with me somewhere I think.

My Expenses - Now live

I've now populated the 'My Expenses' section of the right hand menu with a summary table of monies received so far. Later this week I'll have scanned in the actual paper submissions I've made, and clicking on the date of each expense claim will show you the exact details.

You can visit the Waverley website to get more details about the rules on expenses, and the allowances that councillors receive. There are various special amounts for responsibilities such as leader of the council, or chairman of a committee. I'm presently none of these!

My Expenses

With such a miserable August morning, we're quite slow in the coffee shop today, so I've popped to my computer to try and get my work expenses done.

And, it's reminded me to mention a new section in the right hand menu bar that I'll be populating in the next week or so, and then updating regularly. It's going to show my expenses for borough council work. In the light of much attention given to MPs' expenses, I think it would simply be appropriate for me to be open about what I claim with regards to what I do as a councillor.

There are various rules of course about what is a valid claim, and I confess to having to check them every time, as I'm never certain. Mileage comes into it of course, but did you know that councillors can claim for child care? Very sensible I think, although I haven't had to claim that myself yet.

SOS Part 2

And this time SOS really is an appeal for help. I never realized that there were so many different schemes for grant giving at Waverley. From the Sponsored Organisation Scheme to the Compensatory Grants to parishes. And including disretionary rate relief (one could argue) and certainly the voluntary grants panel.

There's a long history behind some of these - how they came to be, and the original intentions. A key question is whether they've become so static (except for inflation), that they are only grants in name. Should we review the way in which these things are calculated, or conduct a more root and branch review into why they exist in the first place?

SOS

I'm off to the council offices shortly - a meeting with officers regarding the Sponsored Organisation Scheme. It's a little early in the year to be thinking about it, but we're looking through its structure in an effort to think about how the guidelines and parameters for making awards are set, and what improvements can be made, if any.

Fair Trade = Fair Price, Fair Wage

Tonight I spoke briefly about Fair Trade at our church. The sermon passage was James 5 v 1-6, where the Apostle Paul gets pretty worked up about injustice served on the poor by the rich. He's not saying that the rich are consequently (because of their riches) evil, but that riches have the tendency to turn their owners to evil-doing.

As we strive to do the right thing in stocking our shops and paying our staff, our pastor asked me to speak briefly about what we do. I also told the story of a community in Rwanda that are now making some of the best coffee in all Africa. Pascal Kalisa, a farmer from the community, was in London at the launch of their new coffee. He was so evidently pleased to be there, but the big thing about it for him, was that his ticket was paid for by the coffee farmers. His plea? "Please buy our coffee. If it's not good coffee, don't buy it."

His desire is to do something good, and be paid a fair price for it.

Rent Asunder

I don't think that I've ever bought a copy of the Guardian. There we go - my confession of the day. However, today would have a good day to break that vow of abstinence, as the paper covered what we in Waverley have been making a noise about for some time now: our negative housing subsidy.

It's a tragedy that because Waverley is perceived (in many ways accurately, but only in general terms) as a wealthy borough, it's pockets of poverty are dealt an awful hand by way of the central government's treatment of housing rents. We give back to the treasury 47% of the £23 million! Imagine what we could do with those funds to improve our housing stock, the lives of our tenants, and our communities.

Thanks to the efforts led by Waverley, this issue is now receiving the attention it deserves.

So, something that I didn't think I'd be writing in my blog today - I take my hat off to the Guardian.

LOL

A friend of mine who works for Croydon Council has made me laugh by sending an email of great cartoons about fuel prices. Here's a couple to make you smile too.