Full Council - 29 June 2010
July 1st, 2010 by glenngoodall2 Comments
Last Tuesdays full Council meeting was interesting to say the least!
This was the first meeting with our Coalition running the show, and the down-beat faces of the Labour party members said it all.
It was also very clear that the two coalition groups worked very well together. This may seem strange to some (and even to me at times) but after years of Labour totalitarianism, both groups want to make changes for the better and for the good of Reading.
The first order of business:
The first item dealt with the ‘Coalition agreement‘ and, predictably, Labour had a large number of sour amendments. Each of these tried to pin the Coalition down to either an uncosted spending commitment or policy fitting Labours agenda.
However, with no attempt by Labour to discuss these amendments in advance and the fact that there were 5 (one Lib Dem was away, would usually be 6) more coalition members than Labour - this was a doomed strategy from the start!
One amendment called for increasing recycling rates. Since, under Labour, this level had only hit 30 % with other councils nearby hitting 60+% I felt this was a ‘too little too late’ gesture. Equally, Labour had an outdated ‘one size fits all’ attitude, so the prospect of some area’s getting weekly collections was too much for them! Their ex-Environment lead said:
“residents would will get lazy if we have weekly collections”
Also during one of the debates, one seasoned Labour Councillor called the Lib Dems ‘prisoners of the Tories’ and then compared the Lib Dem group to NAZI collaborators! This was a shameful display and just shows how desperate Labour have become.
The ex-Deputy Leader of the Council stated that:
“[the Coalition have] got a lot of work to do”
Too right! Labour have left the finances in a right state and had put off making several key decisions!
The next best line from the night came from the ex-Leader of the Council who said that:
“the budget deficit is not that bad”
Yes love, the economy is SO rosey and we’ve never had it so good! Hmmmm…
Each amendment failed, some debates were closed down after going round in circles for some time, much to the protest of Labour members. Although this wasn’t ideal, the item was heard for 1 and half hours so I think they had ample time.
The finally the item passed 25 to 20.
Rest of the Business:
The next seven items passed fairly smoothly and included licensing strip clubs, finally adopting the long awaited Tree Strategy and some other procedural items.
Then it came to the motions to Council - all from Labour.
One was on the Royal mails decision to stop using bikes to deliver post. Improving Reading for cycling is one of the Coalitions core points so this was of great interest. Unfortunately, the motion proposer seemed more interested in the views of the union reps than that of the actual workers… Labours old politics continues.
Another interesting motion spoke about signing up to Friends of the Earth’s ‘get serious about CO2′ campaign. Something I, and other Lib Dem members, have already signed up to as an individual. After having several motions of this type kicked back by Labour - this was interesting to see.
New Lead Councillor for Environment, Warren Swaine, amended this to show what the new Coalition had planned. Unlike Labour aspirations, the Coalition will actively go for measures to limit climate change. The time for gestures is over and its time for action!
The lone Green party member gave a speech at this point saying:
“..if people want me to vote for their amendments they should show me in advance”
May be if he held the balance of power or opened up a dialogue with us, rather than just with Labour, we would. But he has clearly pinned his colours to the Labour mast by voting with them at every opportunity and having a joint protest out side the Civic. Which is all actually quite disappointing because I was actually looking forward to a true independent on the Council - critisising and scrutinising the Leading group and the opposition. But from the performance that night - there would seem to be 20 Labour councillors…
He then described the amendment as
“fiddling round the edges”
I would suggest he look at his Labour chums track record as a comparison, before passing judgement!
The meeting ended at a little after 11pm…
I look forward to the next meeting, but its not till October.

This may be old new to some, but I thought I should mention it…
So, it’s happened and the Coalition have put forwards their emergency budget. I’m sure we will hear countless Labour supports shouting “wont someone think of the children.” But the facts are that after years of Labour rule they have left our country with a mountain of debt. Every minute gov’t has to spend an eye-watering £80,000 interest on the national debt racked up by Labour, that’s over £800 million a week. If action wasn’t taken now then the markets would force us into even more drastic measures as they have in Greece and Spain.
Yesterday evening at the 