Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for 10 years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
Promoted by Bob Piper of 115 Barclay Rd, B67 5JZ on behalf of the Labour Party, care of 39 Victoria Street London, SW1H 0HA . Hosted (printed) by Swaithe Internet Solutions who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts.
Please note however, that The Labour Party is not responsible for the content of this website or individual posts as, unless specifically stated, I am writing solely in a personal and individual capacity.
Promoted by Bob Piper of 115 Barclay Rd, B67 5JZ on behalf of the Labour Party, care of 39 Victoria Street London, SW1H 0HA . Hosted (printed) by Swaithe Internet Solutions who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts.
Please note however, that The Labour Party is not responsible for the content of this website or individual posts as, unless specifically stated, I am writing solely in a personal and individual capacity.
I went to a ‘public’ meeting tonight about the closure of our local fire station. A 12-week consultation by the Tory-led Fire and Rescue Authority which finishes in two days time.
Yes... Two. Days. Time. A 12-week consultation, and the public are invited to a meeting in the most inaccessible part of Smethwick, without a house within half a mile, and not on a bus route, at 7pm in the dark and the snow... and the meeting advertised precisely bloody nowhere! And still a couple of dozen hardy souls turned up to voice their opposition. Not that the Fire and Rescue Authority (Oh, by the way, did I say they were Tory controlled) are that interested in the public’s views. The Tory Chair and Vice-Chair didn’t bother to even attend to answer questions.
The reality behind this sham consultation is that the Tory-controlled Fire and Rescue Authority will rubber stamp a closure of the community fire station in Smethwick (that’s right, a community fire station, where they could have held their consultation meeting) at their meeting next month having ridden rough shod over local opinion.
I’ve been fairly cynical over the last couple of years about Labour’s commitment to what Hazel Blears refers to as ‘doorstep devolution’, but if this fiasco is anything to go by, community engagement by the Tories will be an absolute joke.
I've had two sorts of bosses in my career - those who buy into all the performance management BS and pretend that salary reviews are objective & results based etc. and those who acknowledge how phony it all is and are just blunt & honest about how they manage staff.
The latter type is infinitely preferrable to work for, even when you don't get on with them.
A government that believes it's 'engaging people', spends lots on money doing it but in the end does what it wants is far worse than one which barely even makes the pretence surely?
Bob the Black Country Brummie said:
January 6, 2009 10:12 AM | permalink
sadley Bob it's not just tory lead organisations our PCT did a similar thing with a consultation when we lost a doctor and the new hospital consultaions where a sham.
Bob, whatever your feelings on the outcomes of the new hospital consultations, I don't think you can level a charge of hiding the consultation away in the same way this fire station was has been conducted. I attended at least 3 seperate consultations around the new hospital, including one in my own Ward, and although I don't have the figure I would be surprised if there were less than 50 different consultation meetings in the timetable. In addition to which the Local Authority Cabinet and Overview and Scrutiny Committee were involved. None of this has happened with the fire service.
Liam, you may well be right, and in a way I suspect you are making the same point as Bob is... that effectively all consultation is a sham where minds have already been made up. But there is a difference between consultation and negotiation. Consultation means listening to concerns in order to try to address them. So in the health one that Bob is talking about, the PCT can enter into discussions with the transport organisations, for instance, to try to alleviate people's concerns about transport links to a new hospital.
My concern over this fire service one was that there was no serious attempt to even hear the voices of objection.
January 6, 2009 10:06 AM | permalink
I've had two sorts of bosses in my career - those who buy into all the performance management BS and pretend that salary reviews are objective & results based etc. and those who acknowledge how phony it all is and are just blunt & honest about how they manage staff.
The latter type is infinitely preferrable to work for, even when you don't get on with them.
A government that believes it's 'engaging people', spends lots on money doing it but in the end does what it wants is far worse than one which barely even makes the pretence surely?