Memories of a councillor and reflections on the year’s plan

THIS week I will attend Bob Backhouse’s funeral near Cambridge and a memorial service for Bob at St Philip’s Church, Sherwood on Friday, February 3.

Bob was a kind and generous man and a very dedicated and hard-working Councillor. The respect I had for Bob was endorsed in an email I received from an officer noting what a pleasure it had been to work with Bob; how his knowledge and dedication to constituents was a credit to him. The officer told me that Bob continued to ring him after he lost his seat pursuing matters on behalf of Sherwood residents.

Dedicated

The coalescing to win seats is one of the more unpleasant aspects of coalition politics – vote Labour, Liberal Democrat or Tunbridge Wells Alliance (there may just be one candidate from all of those Groups standing in your ward) – and get a Liberal Democrat-led coalition.

Last week the Liberal-Democrat-led coalition plan for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council was addressed by the Finance & Governance Cabinet Advisory Board.

The report noted that the external auditor has just completed their Annual Report on the state of the Council, reviewing its strategies and arrangements for decision-making and made three improvement recommendations which were welcomed by the Council. The first of these was to bring forward a new corporate plan to provide the focus required to help meet the challenges ahead.

My expectation is that the Auditors would want the Council to produce an Interim Plan pending the establishment of a new 5-year Plan which should show continuity with many of the matters being pursued up to May 2022.

At the meeting, I mentioned the financial constraints under which the Council has to operate for many years and the focus on ‘user pays’, plans for co-working in the Town Hall and the work on the Town and Assembly Hall roof and windows, the Local Plan, the development of Neighbourhood Development Plans, the Town

Matthew Scott Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent

Centre Area Plan, the Carbon Reduction Programme, including the planned work on the depot and the Weald Sports Centre and continued work with social housing providers.

I do not consider the Borough Partnership Plan to be what the Auditors would expect to see.

It should be a balanced report from the Council (not from the Administration) published with a foreword from the Leader of the Council explaining the purpose of the Plan.

That is the approach the Council has adopted previously.

The meeting continued to discuss the Budget for 2023-24. The 2022-23 budget was a prudent ‘wait and see’ budget, prepared after two years affected by the Covid pandemic.

The financial focus was on seeing how income levels would recover and at what level these would plateau before considering what actions needed to be taken to address any actual revenue deficit.

Comments by coalition group members suggesting that the Council’s finances were a shambles have done TWBC no favours.

The Council has an outstanding finance department and 13 consecutive years of unqualified audits is a remarkable achievement.

TWBC is in a stronger position than many other Councils and my expectation remains that there will be no need to draw from reserves in the year to March 31 2023 as the Council’s income is showing encouraging signs of recovery, with increases in car park revenue and investment income.

An annual income of over £1million from deposits is not generated from a black hole. Although outgoings are lower as a result of significant savings in staff costs (sadly this results from a spike in Council staff turnover), inflationary pressures are increasingly evident, especially for energy costs and the inflators built into major contracts which the administration needs to address – and not just by declaring many of the Council’s property assets as surplus.

Matthew Scott was first elected the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent in 2016 and re-elected in 2021. He sets policing priorities, commissions services to support victims, sets the council tax precept, manages the force’s budget, and holds the Chief Constable to account. He serves as the national PCC lead for Mental Health, and is chair of the board for the BlueLight Commercial organisation.