Saturday 14 May 2011

A new Leader for Ynys Môn (Updated)

Tomorrow is a big day in the Council's calendar: its the day of the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Leader Clive McGregor will step down and a new Leader and Deputy will be elected — though the likely term of office will be just one year (as the local elections will be next May) and neither will enjoy the normal powers or monetary reward of their new positions due to the intervention of Commissioners. Despite this four hats have been thrown into the ring.

Of course, had the January plotters simply decided to wait until today's AGM to install a new Leader, the Commissioners would never have been sent in...

UPDATE: The new Leader is Bryan Owen of the Original Independents with Plaid Cymru's Bob Parry retaining his Deputy post.

21 comments:

Photon said...

Well, you're possibly right that the Commissioenrs might not have be sent in when they were, but they would inevitably have come a bit later.

The question remains: what happens when our failed councillors are returned to power? The solution has always been in the people's hands, but they never apply it.

Maes Llwyn said...

Meaningless and pointless AGM !
The only solution to the Anglesey problem is to suspend the Council, and/or NAW to legislate to bar all Councillors in Wales standing after 2 terms, and open up to new candidates.
We are all thoroughly sick of the known troublemakers, those who are jockeying for positions today.
Toxic and poisonous characters.

Anonymous said...

Sheriff Carl "Tubs" Sargeant, will take no prisoners, his deputies have been sworn in and told to clean up the Ranch. The old gunfighter David " Tash" Bowles has hung up his six gun and gone on the last stagecoach, he left town in a cloud of dust.

After a swearing in ceremony today, Sheriff Carl " Tubs" Sargeant made Bryan Owen the new Marshall, instead of a six gun he was presented with a spud gun, and his deputy, Bob Parry was given a potato, good luck boys!

Prometheuswrites said...

Re: New IOACC Council Leader:

In the ‘RB Assessment of Recovery’ report that precipitated the appointment of the commissioners David Bowles wrote on the matter of council leadership:

“The alternative offer was from Councillors John Chorlton, Hefin Thomas, Bryan Owen and Gareth Winston Roberts. Councillor Chorlton would be Leader and Bryan Owen Deputy Leader. At the moment it is clear to me that neither of these could form a stable administration. The latter proposition seemed more likely to be able to form some kind of administration but given the basis of its foundation I would have little confidence in either its stability or ability to move the Council forward. Indeed it would be likely to be unstable and would be led by people who have shown by their actions little genuine commitment to good governance.”

Yesterday Anglesey Commissioner, Mick Giannasi, welcomed Cllr Owen's appointment as Council Leader saying:

“... As Commissioners, we look forward to working alongside Cllr Owen as the Authority strives towards a sustainable recovery and regaining its own autonomy.”

Either the Commissioners haven’t taken on board the substance of Mr Bowles report or (more likely) this was said through (metaphorically) gritted teeth.

An Eye On... said...

Did not Bowles say that the independent councillors were the cause of most of the problems?

And now one's the leader?

the outsider said...

maybe IWJ should roll up his sleeves and stand in the IoACC election, his legal background would be useful.

Prometheuswrites said...

Red Flag:

I beieve he did. Which is why this article is of interest:

http://www.theonlinemail.co.uk/bangor-and-anglesey-news/local-bangor-and-anglesey-news/2011/05/11/eight-councillors-out-of-40-on-anglesey-belong-to-no-group-66580-28666527/

I can him now; riding into the sunset with one saddlebag full with severence pay and the other full of vindication, which he's using to polish out any of the tarnish on his CV that may have accumulated from exposure to corrosive anglesey onionskins. :o)

An Eye On... said...

Think it's mentioned in Bowles' letter embedded in your blog Prom. Think that's where I saw it.

The link to the Western Mail you provided - the line by Peter Rogers “Under normal circumstances, to have so many unaffiliated is bad- you can have one or two but eight, could have an effect on the council’s direction, in that there could be no direction." is the understatement of the century.

Prometheuswrites said...

Red Flag:
I copied and pasted it from Mr Bowles own confidential report that is posted on Photon's blog - my blog is merely pregnant.

Anonymous said...

None of the Parties mentioned deserve to have anything to do with the Council. They are there only for their own glory and benefits. They should all come down to Earth .Years ago members did their bit and got no salary at all they did it with a sound Heart for the Island . singed
a person who has to earn a living overseas as the island has no jobs.

An Eye On... said...

Well anaon, Bowles speaks favourably of Plaid however no party comes out if this well.

As for jobs - there are jobs available but most are low paid no skill. If you believe the 'peak oil' theories (which I do - mainly because I know people in the oil industry) in the 'first world' they will increase as the higher skilled higher paying jobs decrease.

Richard Sletzer said...

IEUAN AIR: What happens now , I wonder, to the Manx2 Cardiff/Valley air service now Ieuan is no longer in what is now to be called the "Welsh Government"?

I am 100% convinced that the Manx2 service is a good thing for Anglesey. But Manx2 now must be anxiously awaiting the full Irish Air Accident Investigation report into the Cork air crash in February this year.

Strictly speaking Manx2 isn't an "airline" in the normal sense; it's actually classed as a ticket seller because - although properly licenced - it uses aircraft, crews and air operators which belong to other companies.

The German aircraft-type and German company used by Manx2 for the Cardiff/Anglesey Service was not involved in the Cork crash. The Manx2 Cork accident involved a Spanish Air Operators Certificate-holder which operated the flight and a second Spanish company which supplied the aircraft (a Swearingen Metro twin turbo-prop) and the flight crew.

The Irish Air Accident Investivation Unit's full report is still awaited but the question will inevitably arise as to whether these complex arrangements were a factor in the background to the accident.

I do hope the air service keeps going. It would be a tragedy if was axed.

An Eye On... said...

I wonder- if you took all the government and public sector staff of the flights (we pay their fares) and removed all the other subsidies (which we pay) whether it's actually financially viable.

Anonymous said...

IWJ should put his name down for an allotment and finally throw in the towel. Under no circumstances should he continue in politics. WHat has he ever achieved? Absolutely nothing. All he's done is drag the welsh further into the parochial(Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook; provincial) sewer. All you nationalists should join him on the allotment. You grow your veg and we'll grow the nation.

Maes Llwyn said...

The Anglesey Commissioners are nothing but fatcat NAW rubber-stamping caretakers, on £500 a day. They are here with no idea how to turn this Council round, they have no magic wand, they are sitting waiting for the May 2012 election to see what happens next, and worst, they are out of their political depth with our Machiavellian crew of 40.
Hopeless !

M Cantarell said...

Peak Oil: Red flag: yes, this may be correct on the basis that social complexity relies on there being a surplus of energy, which is fast disappearing.

so as the remaining oil gets harder to find and extract, the cost of getting it goes up, so net energy falls (i.e the surplus energy available to society falls.)

this means it will be much harder for us to make the major advances in future, unless there is a major paradigm shift.

Already conventional oil seems to have hit a ceiling of 75 m barrels a day, with the balance up to the daily demand of c. 84 m barrels being made up of unconventional and hard to reach stuff.

And daily demand is set to rise!!! So it's crunch time.

Groundhog said...

Seems that the govt is softening its stance on subsidies for the nuclear industry with comments regarding it being a no-brainer. We cannot really afford to subsidise yet we cannot afford not to subsidise either. With the unctious Energy Minister Chris Huhne who faces a bleak future following recent revelations there may well be subsidies in the offing after all.

An Eye On... said...

Groundhog - it's not so much the government where the problem lies regarding subsidies, it's the EU.

Of interest is the impact the German carbon rod tax will have on this and Cameron's decision to ramp-up the low carbon economy.

Anonymous said...

If Cameron really wanted to reduce our Carbon footprint then he should be pushing to increase rail freight.

Unfortunately, Road Haulier's would be directly affected, but a compensation scheme similar to the one used to decommission fishing vessels could be used.

Anonymous said...

I am of the opinion that all the Councillors on Anglesey should not be allowed to hold public office ever again, these Commissioners have managed to obtain even more money from the public purse having retired from their previous posts on big pensions ain't it a case of "jobs for the boys"

Anonymous said...

Seems things are really quiet in the office, people getting busy, heads down, then heads up and back to shredding.....