A long day today

Just to make clear, what I am about to write is in no sense a complaint, just a description of what  comes with the territory of being a county councillor.

I knew when I stood for election how long it takes to get from Whitehaven or St Bees to Kendal or Carlisle, how often the county council meets, that some of the meetings go on all day, and that if I was elected, doing the job would entail days like today.

I left home at 7.40 am this morning arriving at County Hall at about 9.15 for a pre-meeting.

The council meeting itself started at 10 am and continued until 4pm with a 45 minute break for lunch. I arrived home at about 6.15 pm.

The council meeting covered a number of important issues including debates on local government reform, Anti-Semitism and Moorside, a review of the council's constitution, a question time session at which the Whitehaven Relief Road and numerous other local issues were raised, and reports on treasury management and the future of scrutiny.

Under public participation we heard from two representatives of Flouride-free Cumbria.

We also stood in silence for a minute to remember Ian Stewart and Duncan Fairbairn, two long-serving councillors who have died.

The Prime Minister was not the only person who had a long day today.

Parts of the meeting I found uplifting and constructive. Parts were not.

The meeting began with a roll-call (must confess I don't understand why they can't just pass a signing-in sheet round like many other councils) showing that the great majority of Cumbria's 82 county councillors of all the different persuasions were there (there are normally 84 but the by-elections to replace Ian Stewart and Duncan Fairbairn have not been held yet) and most of us were there at the start and stayed to the end.

I repeat that I am not complaining or suggesting that any of us deserve special praise for simply doing the job. Just describing today.


Individual posts will follow on several of these issues.

Comments

Anonymous said…
One day a month
11:41 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
That's the lower end, which would be about right for someone who conscientiously attended just full council and the local committee for the district area he or she represents.

It depends on how many committees one is a member of, and how many committees one is not a member of but thinks it necessary to go to in order to speak up for your residents.

Then there are group meetings, working groups, representing the council on outside bodies, training courses and events.

Most county councillors representing parished areas are invited to attend meetings of the town or parish councils covering the area we represent and most of us try to get to as many as we can. Both St Bees Parish council and Egremont Town Council very considerately give their county councillor or councillors a short slot near the beginning of their meeting.

I emphasise that I am not complaining about this or expecting any special praise for merely trying to do properly a job I volunteered for.

My current list (18/19) of regular diary commitments

* Full Council
* Copeland Local Committee
* Cumbria Health Scrutiny
* Health Scrutiny Variation Subcommittee
* Cumbria and Lancashire joint health scrutiny
* As one of the "lead members" of Health Scrutiny I am invited to regular meetings which in theory take place approximately quarterly with the North Cumbria CCG, the Morecombe Bay CCG, North Cumbria and Morecombe Bay University Hospitals Trust - that is supposed to be sixteen meetings a year though in practice it's more like ten
* Copeland Highways Working Group
* Copeland Grants panel
* A595 working group
* CCC representative on the Sellafield Sites Stakeholder Group
* Copeland Health Forum


Not counting Conservative meetings such as the Shadow Cabinet or Conservative Group meetings that's nearer to a meeting a week than one a month - I had county council activities on three of the five days of this working week, two in Kendal and one in Whitehaven, lasting between two hours and effectively a full day counting travel.

This also does not include casework or campaigning.

My workload is slightly, but not dramatically, above average for a county councillor who is not a cabinet portfolio holder or committee chairman.
12:18 pm
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