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| LA! LA! LA! LA! WE ARE NOT LISTENING! LA! LA! LA! LA! (Pic : Carmarthenshire Planning) |
When it comes to rotten boroughs in Wales, there's one that stands head and shoulders above any other and that's Carmarthenshire, which is being run in a manner similar to Saudi Arabia; there's a token elected body but an unelected monarch calls the shots.
Last year, Jac o the North's Royston Jones submitted a petition to the National Assembly calling for the Welsh Government to be aware of the "unhealthy influence" of local authority chief executives on their councils, and to place local authorities that hinder the decision-making authority of elected members into special measures if they don't heed warnings (read his detailed account here). It got 144 signatures.I don't have to remind you of what's been going on there, but my posts on the issue are under the Wild West tag. Despite Wales Audit Office investigations, Ombundsman investigations and the dogged determination and bravery of bloggers like Jacqui Thompson (her reaction : Turning a blind eye) and Cllr. Sian Caiach (People First, Hengoed) the situation there hasn't changed very much.
You would've expected the Welsh Government and AMs to have been concerned about attempts to undermine democracy on their doorstep, but those concerns - if they even existed in the first place - have slowly burned out.
The powers that be seem incapable of clearly setting out in the law what local authority executive officers can or can't do, and even when it is partially set out, it's often left to legal interpretation – a gift to lawyers and an open invitation for unelected officers to do whatever the hell they want.
In response to Royston's petition, Public Services Minister, Leighton Andrews (Lab, Rhondda), said the responsibility for curbing executive power rests with the political leadership of a local authority, adding that his draft Local Government Bill will make it clear that chief executives are both appointed by and accountable to their respective local authorities (pdf)....as they're supposed to be already.
There's no mention of the limits on executive power in law, what counts as undue influence, or what a Welsh Government could do to intervene in circumstances where such power is being abused – which is what the petition was about.
Despite the Chair of the Petitions Committee, William Powell AM's (Lib Dem, Mid & West Wales), clear and welcome awareness of the situation in "certain local authorities", the petition's journey through the Assembly lasted a grand total of 4 minutes.
It was agreed – following Joyce Watson AM's (Lab, Mid & West Wales) recommendation – that the petition be closed and the petitioner(s) take part in the consultation on the draft Bill.
Asking members of the public to take part in a consultation on a complicated law being overseen by one of the most single-minded Welsh Government ministers is as much use as a one-legged man in an arse-kicking competition. It's a pat on the head and "hard lines" at best, a more polite way of saying "go f**k yourself" at worst.
The Petitions Committee rarely close petitions at the first opportunity and, as far as I can tell, they only do that if the petition has been overtaken by events, covers the same ground as another petition or is some sort of wind-up. The issues raised in the petition weren't properly addressed, and they won't be in the draft Bill consultation either - you would have to be pretty naïve to think public consultations change anything. AMs and Ministers have had ample time to look at what's happening, but nobody wants to touch it.
It's the sort of response I would've expected from Joyce Watson and, as a backbench Labour AM, she doesn't have to work very hard to disappoint on matters like this.
With Russell George absent, attentions turned to the other AM present, Elin Jones AM (Plaid, Ceredigion) – substituting for Bethan Jenkins – who only chimed in to say she agreed with closing the petition. Nobody offered an alternative view. Nobody seemed to understand the implications.
Indeed, Plaid have been very quiet on the issue of authoritarianism in local government recently. They've gone from advocating police investigations and special measures, to becoming purring pussies in the laps of the same senior officers they once condemned with the strongest fervour.
I'm sure that has absolutely nothing to do with Plaid going into ruling coalition with Independents in Carmarthenshire – I still can't figure out why. Carmarthenshire Labour were a gift that kept giving. Now they're the opposition with Plaid having to jointly table a tough budget, whilst Labour have, on paper, a very strong candidate standing in Llanelli.
It shows Plaid's aspiration to govern certainly, which is commendable; but it also displays the lack of moral fibre they've shown several times in recent years. They get indignant about stuff pretty quickly – which when properly channelled and has some thought behind it leads to some good ideas. When it comes to actually doing something about it, however, they bend easily once opportunities present themselves – like their recent agreement on the Local Government Act.
I can't blame them; it's realpolitik. However, if they're this "accommodating" on the situation in Carmarthenshire, they'll inevitably be "accommodating" in the Assembly after the election, despite the bluster about running Wales alone.
I'm not sure what I expected, but I know I expected better than this.
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