JOBS FOR THE BOYS

It appears that the CWACA’s Executive Group have come to the conclusion that 72 elected members has proved to be an ‘appropriate’ number (Corporate Policy and Improvement Management Report of 18 May 2009, received by yours truly on 28 March), so they’re lobbying the Boundary Commission for 75 members.  Seems logical, because the poor little ducks’ workload includes strenuous tasks like ‘implementing proposals for area working, developing roles as public champions, providing voices [must have a choir, I suppose] and channelling communications’.  No mention of getting pot-holes filled or preventing old ladies getting mugged after they’ve travelled 250 miles to their nearest Post Office to collect their pension.  No mention of the fact that it’s the unsustainable level of public expenditure which is responsible for the budget deficit and Gordon’s record level of borrowing, either.  Au contraire, as Lord Melchett said to Blackadder, CWACA thinks it’s a good idea to allocate a budget of £5,000 to each councillor to ‘fund locally managed projects to achieve outcomes reflected by the Council’s own priorities’.  It won’t escape you that there’s no mention of taxpayers’ priorities (despite the fact that they’re the ones having to cough up the £375,000), only their own.

In case you’re wondering what they all do in CWACA, you might like to contact one or other of their officers and ask.  There’s a senior manager for ‘customer process transformation’ who might offer some assistance or you could try the senior manager of ‘overview and scrutiny’, principal manager for ‘early years’, either of two senior managers for ‘patch teams’ (must be in charge of pot-holes) or even the senior manager for ‘streetscene’.  If you get anywhere, let me know.

Theoghinus Nuttors, 28 March 2009.