Antony Little for Norwich South

For once the Questions certainly outshone the debates in terms of topics, answers and good old fashioned political point scoring.

Attack of the Day
An uncharacteristically boisterous attack from Cllr John Wyatt (Con, Bowthorpe) who asked the Executive if they would lobby the UEA to accommodate more students on campus in order to save the Norwich housing stock. Cllr Bert Bremner, Executive Member for Communities, replied it gave the normally docile Tory a bit of an electric shock. Cllr Wyatt responded saying that the answer was “typically evasive and devoid of any real action”. It certainly didn’t answer Cllr Wyatt’s question but could Cllr Bremner – who has incurred the wrath of UEA students several times – really be failing to provide leadership on this? Apparently so. So shocked was he that Cllr Bremner refused to answer the question. Oh dear – not a festive start.

Fluff of the Day
Cllr Wright (LibDem, Eaton) with a quite bizarre question about data protection. It was clearly meant for some press release or another and was meant to be topical but it failed miserably on all counts. Some ideas are just too clever I suppose.

Insult of the Day
“Comparing yourselfs to the woeful performance of the last LibDem administration is like saying Terry Venebals was a good England manager but only compared to Steve McClaren.” Cllr Little (Con, Bowthorpe)

Angry Man of the Day
LibDem Jeremy Hooke (Thorpe Hamlet) launched into Executive Member Cllr Alan Waters about council tax collection rates with the gusto of a man possessed with political indignation. But when he got the reply he wanted, the wind was well and truly out of his sails.

Exchange of the Day
For a second month running this goes to Cllr Lubbock (LibDem, Eaton) who is moving away from her reputation for shooting herself in the foot. She asked if Cllr Morrey (Labour) would back the campaign to reduce the speed limit on Newmarket Road. When Cllr Morrey said no, Cllr Lubbock produced with wonderful timing and brilliant tone, a quote from Charles Clarke backing the plans. “Well, he’s the MP and I’m on the council … er, I have nothing to do with Charles Clarke,” spluttered poor old Cllr Morrey. A second direct hit for Cllr Lubbock.

Question of the Day
The billing of LibDem Deputy Leader Brian Watkins (Eaton) versus Labour’s Bert Bremner (University) didn’t quite live up to the billing, but it was a well crafted question. Cllr Bremner has been involved with the campaign to save the Blackdale fields for some time. His Labour government has given permission to sell off the fields, so Cllr Watkins asked if the government had let down local people. There was no right answer to this question for Cllr Bremner. So he started a long rant about the campaign not being dead. Very very boring and most people had forgotten the political hole he was in by the end of it. Cllr Watkins had the chance to pour on pressure but his supplementary was a bit flat and let Cllr Bremner off the hook. A great question but, to be honest, a pisspoor answer.

Answer of the Day
In a bunch of Green questions that fell flat, the best of them was from Cllr Little (Town Close) who asked what carbon reduction has so far been achieved. To what poor old Cllr Brian Morrey splutter and wince and then admit he had no idea was priceless. Apparently we were making progress, but, er, um, nobody has any idea how much. If at all. Really. Ah. Yes. Cllr Morrey had a bad night all round really. Full marks to Cllr Read (Green, Wensum) who was quick enough during his question to say, “I wanted an answer to the last question actually but I suppose the answer to this one will do.”

Summary of the questions asked at this month’s council meeting.

Cllr Rosalind Wright (LibDem, Eaton) asked if charity shops were being charged for waste disposal. We all thought she was on to something there, but the answer from Labour frontbencher Cllr Brian Morrey was a simple no (spread over 4 paragraphs).

Bowthorpe’s Councillor John Wyatt (Con) asked, if the council wanted to build houses on the site of old garages how they would work out which garages would be used. Council Leader Steve Morphew replied that the location, usage and condition were all factors. Cllr Morphew then made an unwarranted attack on Cllr Wyatt, suggesting he could have got this information by asking. Cllr Wyatt then embarrassed the council leader by revealing he had asked … but hadn’t been answered!

Cllr Morphew’s bad mood spread over into his repsonse to Cllr Collishaw (Con, Catton Grove) when she asked how he felt about the £3 per passenger development tax at Norwich Airport. Cllr Morphew attacked the charge, saying it may indeed deter passengers, but also then turned on Cllr Collishaw for the use of the word “tax” when it should have been “charge”. Shouldn’t the Leader of the Council have more things to worry about?

Cllr Little (Con, Bowthorpe) asked if the Council would introduce freephone and freepost so that people didn’t pay to contacted their own council. Moneyman Cllr Alan Waters tutted like a builder and said that this all costs money. Cllr Little asked, in principle, if he supported it if money was not a problem. Cllr Waters, in a moment of honesty, replied no.

Cllr Cooke (LibDem, Lakenham) asked when the future use of City Hall report would be made public – this is a frequent question and the LibDems have made some political headway in persuing this issue. Cllr Waters said that unitary would change all demands and the report would have to wait.

Cllr Lubbock (LibDem, Eaton) was the only member to score a direct hit during the questioning session – asking how much the doomed Unthank Road changes cost the public. Cllr Morrey confirmed it was 10% either way of £140,000. Cllr Lubbock’s supplementary was an example of what can be achieved with this kind of questioning, blasting the total waste of money on the whole scheme. Cllr Morrey, who usually uses Cllr Lubbock as a political punchbag, was left looking rather foolish.

Cllr Stephen Little (Green, Town Close) asked about energy saving in housing developments and was satisfied with an answer that went above the heads of most present.

Cllr Claire Stephenson (Green, Nelson) asked how councillors could keep track of motions passed at council. Cllr Morphew replied that, short of the weekly bulletin, they couldn’t. He also pointed out that the council didn’t have the resources to support every motion passed at council. Cllr Stephenson then came back, asking the Leader to define the word “regular”, missing the open goal of asking what the point of passing motions was if council was going to ignore them.

Cllr Bob Gledhill (Green, Nelson) asked if we could recycle aluminium. Cllr Morrey said no. Cllr Gledhill asked if we could in the future. Cllr Morrey said no. No is currently Cllr Morrey’s favourite answer to questions.

Cllr Rupert Read (Green, Wensum) asked if the council kept lists of cycle thefts. Cllr Bremner, Labour Execuitve Member, replied that they didn’t because the police did and to ask for those details would break the DPA. Cllr Read then started on a rambling reply which the Deputy Lord Mayor attempted to cut short. “Ask a question,” she barked at Cllr Read … “I would if you let me,” replied the irrate member. Anyway, we were all so engrossed by the challenge to the authority of the Deputy Lord Mayor that we totally missed the point and answer to the question.

Next came an interesting clash of the left. Cllr Holmes (Green, Wensum) asked if the Norfolk Pension Scheme invested in any companies with a poor ethical record. Cllr Waters, a Labour member and certainly no New Labour stooge, replied that they weren’t really sure, but that in general the performance of the pension scheme outweighed the need for ethics. Cllr Holmes barked a rather hysterical response about how people who lived with abuse may feel about his asnwer. Cllr Waters was in a tight spot – you either protect people in poor conditions abroad or protect the pensions of people in Norfolk. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this issue.

We flew through the next set of question with little or nothing to report – Cllr Dylan (Green, Mancroft) on democratic involvement in the council’s tenant housing stock, Cllr Bearman (Green, Town Close) asked if the council were working towards “matrix” standard, Cllr Llewellyn (Green, Mancroft) asked what the council was doing to support the Families Support Unit and Cllr Jago (Green, Mancroft) asked about involvement of residents association.

Even ever-present Cllr Ramsay (Green, Nelson) was happy with the answer to his question about how inclusive the Boundary Commission report would be.

It was a shame that so many questions – overwhelmingly from the Greens – failed to ignite or hit the spot this month.

A bumper crop of 22 questions this month. The joy!

LibDem Leader Hereward Cooke (Lakenham) kicked off by asking if the council would use the powers in the Clean Neighbourhoods Act to set up a partnership agreement to help clean off grafitti faster. Although we all wanted Executive Member Julie Brociek-Coulton to say “no, actually, we’d rather like to keep the city looking a right state thank you” in answer to such an obvious and patronising question, she actually said that this was already on the agenda.

Tory Group Leader Antony Little (Bowthorpe) then asked how much the government’s concessionary bus fare scheme had cost the City Council, a theme picked up by the EDP the following day. Brian Morrey, Executive Member, gave a reply that was deliberately complicated and threw figures around hoping nobody could put them together. Morrey was then pressed to give a yes or no answer to the simple question if the government has underfunded the council for this scheme. Far from the lack of knowledge, which he claimed to the EDP, Morrey told the council he wouldn’t give the answer because he’s “get into trouble”. I am still awaiting the answer.

Backbencher John Wyatt (C, Bowthorpe) is developing a habit of asking rather detailed and annoying questions in council. He requested information regaring the funding and location of the City’s new council houses. Although Council Leader Steve Morphew gave an explanation of the funding formula he admitted they didn’t know where the homes would be built. Cllr Wyatt then asked if he would confirm that no green spaces or gardens would be lost. Cllr Morphew clearly struggled with this – one council house in poor condition may be knocked down to make way for new flats, he said, and thus gardens may be lost that way. Overall, the council still has no clue where the houses will go.

The Livestock Market is going to stay where it is, according to Labour’s Alan Waters in reply to a question from Eve Collishaw (C, Catton Grove), although Cllr Collishaw hit back by asking why council officers were making it hard for the market to open. Although Cllr Waters denied this, we were left with the feeling that this issue may yet return.

Music loving Jeremy Hooke (LibDem, Thorpe Hamlet) asked if the council has considered bring the BBC Proms in the Park to Norwich. Deputy Leader of the Council Brenda Ferris replied that plans were in the pipeline and both Cllrs looked very happy with their days work.

Long suffering Carl Mayhew (LibDem, Mile Cross) has been ill for two meetings in a row but came to ask what the council were doing to ensure that youth groups applied for funding for sport and community development. He was then provided with such a long list that you wonder why the question had to be aked in the first place.

LibDem Joyce Divers (Thorpe Hamlet) wanted to know if the council will bear the cost of redecorating if their tenants property is damaged by works. Cllr Westmacott said it wasn’t the case.

Post Office’s were the subject of a rare question from Jill Surridge (LibDem, Thorpe Hamlet) who faces the battle of her life to hold her seat from the Greens in a few months time. Labour’s response was that Scrutiny Committee should cross question the Post Office about their plans. Not a good performance and not good enough to hold her seat.

Pigeon control was the subject of Cllr Diane Lowe’s question. The LibDem member for Mancroft wanted to know if the process was humane. The council admitted they had no policy on pigeon control. Then came one of the classic moments in the chamber – Cllr Lowe asked why the system pioneered by the last LibDem Council was been dumped. After conferring with her Leader, Cllr Brociek-Coulton said that the scheme was too expensive and was typical of the LibDems. Hangbags at dawn!

LibDem war-horse Judith Lubbock (Eaton) always seems to open herself to attack. She asked why there wasn’t more progress towars the 20mph blanket speed limit for suburban roads. This allowed Labour’s Brian Morrey to go for the jugular and remind Cllr Lubbock that she was on the committee that made this decision and it wasn’t entirely in the hands of the City Council. Although Cllr Lubbock comes up with good questions she normally ends up looking foolish by then end – its quite a talent, really.

Labour backbencher David Bradford (Crome) asked the first of two rather obvious questions to his own side about the new choice-based lettings system. It gave Cllr Westmacott the chance to go on about how great it was and how well it would work. Is this really a good use of council time? Labour would argue it helps get information into the public domain – have they heard of a press release?

Then up came Brenda Ferris (Lab, Bowthorpe). She asked about safety on the Prince of Wales Road and it was not lost on the opposition parties has stupid it looked for the Deputy Leader of the Council to be asking this of her own administration! Anyway, of course things had got a lot safer and her second question asked a Labour Councillor to congratulate the Labour Council on their law and order record. Of course, he did!

The ongoing spat between Labour Leader Cllr Morphew and LibDem Tourism Spokesman Brian Watkins (Eaton) continues with some rather good scrutiny of the 5 year tourism plan. Cllr Morphew said that everything would be ready for the New Year. Cllr Watkins made a good fist of attacking Labour’s drift and indecision on the issue. This issue will run and run.

Cllr Rupert Read (Green, Wensum) asked how the council would reduce their massive taxi bill and encourage mor environmentally friendly transport. Cllr Waters said that a lot of encouragement was made for people to walk and cycle. Cllr Read suggested that more encouragement be applied because it clearly wasn’t working. This was put in such a humourous way I didn’t hear the answer because I was laughing. Sorry.

Wi-Fi was bought up again by the Green Group and asked for it to be shelved whilst health fears are dealt with. Labour’s Cllr Morrey gave the same answer as he had given before, except adding that CCTV depends on Wi-Fi and thus the Greens must be arguing against CCTV. The questioner, Cllr Adrian Holmes (Green, Wensum), was confused as he didn’t ask about CCTV.

Cllr Llewellyn (Green, Wensum) wanted to ask if the council didn’t use any companies involved in the current Burmese problems. The council replied that it didn’t.

Cllr Jago had been informed that if you want to take a lot of garden waste to Swanton Road then you need to phone ahead in advance. Cllr Brociek-Coulton was confused as when she went nobody stopped her – although perhaps they didn’t dare! Cllr Jago, who represents Mancroft for the Greens, wanted assurances and got them.

Cllr Ramsay, the Green Leader and Member for Nelson Ward, asked why potholes in some roads weren’t filled in. He was given a technical explanation.

Cllr Bearman (Green, Town Close) asked why puddles were forming on Unthank Road where the recent road works took place. The Council thanked her for the information and said they would look into it. The issue, that is, not the puddle.

The Scrutiny Chairwoman Claire Stephenson (Green, Nelson) was furious that a SNAP meeting that included part of her ward wasn’t advertised to the ward members, including herself. This was, apparently, an oversight and wouldn’t be repeated.

The other-Cllr Little (Green, Town Close) asked why residents found it was taking so long to recieve a new green recycling box. Again, another council cock up and the backlog was being cleared.

Finally, Cllr Bob Gledhill (Green, Nelson) asked about tree planting in his ward although I fear nobody was up to hearing the answer.

And that was that for another month!