Is Plaid Cymru withdrawing from the Alliance for the right reasons?

I will be heading dros y bont this weekend so blogging is likely to be light. However, I will leave you with two thoughts before I go:

1. Plaid Cymru's reported withdrawal from the Alliance

A knowledgeable commenter on the previous thread writes:

"I suspect that those [Plaid Cymru councillors] who have refused to sign the terms of engagement have moral reservations that are stronger than the given reason, (loss of position of whip in the Alliance).

Whileas Plaid's National Executive may have reservations about the extremely contentious 'naming, shaming and excluding' clause; they may find that objecting to procedural inconsistencies with their own policies is a politically safer path to tread."

Other commenters have written that whatever Plaid's motives, it is in the best interests of Anglesey residents that the Alliance fails. My feelings are that if Plaid have indeed withdrawn from the Alliance for higher moral reasons than the ones given, then they are behaving in a very cowardly manner in not making those reasons known and trying to sell their position to the people of Anglesey. If the Alliance does now fall (and its difficult to see how it cannot without Plaid's support) and Carl Sargeant makes good on his threat of "drastic and permanent consequences", then Plaid are plunging us all into the unknown for no good reason. During a period of severe austerity cuts, we will have Cardiff Bay-appointed commissioners without any democratic oversight deciding which Anglesey services will be cut and which saved. Furthermore, we will have no say on the "permanent consequences" to the future structure of the Council. If Plaid Cymru is doing all this for the 'right reasons' then they should try to sell that argument NOW - and not inevitably try and spin after the fact that they were really acting under the best motives all along.

2. The Council's complaint about Cllr Durkin to the Ombudsman

Whatever the rights or wrongs of making a complaint about Cllr Durkin to the Ombudsman, Glyn Pritchard-Jones makes a very good point that it is an extraordinarily poor use of £75,000 of public funds (i.e. the reported legal bill) at a time when the council is cutting various public services. As Glyn says:

"Closing the Council's tourist office at Holyhead was a faux pas as the sole employee would cost Anglesey Council perhaps at best £75,000 over a three year period ignoring the invisible fiscal benefits such an office contributes to the island."

The question I would like to ask is: why is the Council's legal department unable to prepare the complaint by themselves without the assistance of expensive external solicitors?

Cllr Barrie Durkin calls for Assembly to take over Anglesey Council (Updated)

Named-and-shamed councillor, Barrie Durkin, has sent the below letter to Local Government minister, Carl Sargeant, calling for the Welsh Assembly to immediately take over the running of Anglesey County Council:
Barrie Durkin letter to Carl Sargeant

Readers may recall that Plaid Cymru councillor, Rhian Medi, also last week came out against the Terms of Engagement and called for the Assembly to become involved if things deteriorated any further. Incidentally, as I wrote at the time, seeing how Cllr Medi has so publicly criticised the Alliance, according to the Terms of Engagement, Bob Parry now has no choice but to expel her from the Plaid Cymru group - yet I have not heard of any such action being taken. Does anyone know whether Medi has been expelled or not? And if not, why not? After all Cllr Goronwy Parry was expelled from the Original Independents for much less (admittedly this was prior to the Terms of Engagement though...).

UPDATE: A person identifying him/herself as a Plaid Councillor writes the following in comments:

Its my understanding that Cllr Medi has NOT been sacked from the Alliance and that Plaid central office are demanding the terms of engagement must be changed.

If this is true, then it really would put the Alliance in between a rock and hard place. If they refuse to amend the Terms of Engagement then presumably all Plaid members would need to leave the Alliance. If this were to occur then we know from Carl Sargeant's letter to all councillors on June 30 that the Welsh Assembly would almost certainly take over the council. Here is what Sargeant wrote:

"...arrangements can fall apart as fast as they can be put together. Accordingly I have asked my officials and the Recovery Board to prepare contingency plans which we can implement urgently if recovery falters and/or the alliance fails"

Durkin responds to Bowles

Named-and-shamed councillor Barrie Durkin responds to last Friday's Daily Post interview with Anglesey County Council's Interim MD, David Bowles:

Barrie Durkin Press Release 27 July 2010

Durkin's Black Swan?

Now that the Holyhead & Anglesey Mail has published the names of the protagonists in the Barrie Durkin "Tape-gate" controversy which I  wrote about last week (without naming names), I see no further need to hold back from identifying those concerned.

In essence Cllr Durkin claims to have have met with Cllr Bob Parry, leader of the Plaid Cymru group in Anglesey County Council and senior member of the new Alliance, in a car park in Llanerch-y-medd; during this meeting Durkin alleges that Parry encouraged him to investigate the the planning irregularities of Legal Services Director and Monitoring Officer, Lynn Ball, who lives near to Parry's ward of Bryngwran. Durkin further claims that he tape-recorded this conversation with Parry's knowledge. According to the Holyhead & Anglesey Mail Parry does not deny having met with Durkin in Llanerch-y-medd, but he says: "that was years ago and there certainly weren't any tape recorders about". Curiously the Mail does not press Parry to confirm or deny whether he did discuss Lynn Ball's planning irregularities with Durkin or not -- accordingly we are simply left with a big discussion regarding whether a tape of the conversation exists or not, rather than what was actually discussed at a meeting neither of them deny.

Anyway, does the tape exist or not? Durkin says it does but will not produce it "until I feel it's necessary and in my interest". Does Durkin's refusal to produce it prove that it doesn't exist? I hate to be get all philosophical about it, but here's what Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the celebrated author of "The Black Swan", has to say about 'negative empiricism':

"Seeing white swans does not confirm the nonexistence of black swans ... If I see a black swan I can certify that all swans are not white! If I see someone kill, then I can be practically certain that he is a criminal. If I don't see him kill, I cannot be certain that he is innocent. The same applies to cancer detection: the finding of a single malignant tumour proves that you have cancer, but the absence of such a finding cannot allow you to say with certainty that you are cancer-free."

I wonder if Clive McGregor and the members of Recovery Board are quite as philosophical about the whole affair? Anyway, I'll leave the last word to Cllr Peter Rogers who is completely accurate:

"It's quite appalling, if its true then Clive McGregor has no choice but to sack Bob, especially after Goronwy Parry was sacked for supporting him (Durkin). I don't know how much longer this can carry on before we get shut down".

The Anglesey Coup d'état - Day 4 News

With such dramatic changes going on at the Council you would think that our well-paid Council press office would, you know, tell us what's going on wouldn't you? Apparently not - the Council's news page's hasn't been updated since Friday. Good job the Druid is here to keep you all informed of the day's going ons:

• Clive McGregor has only been able to persuade three Original Independents to join his new group, Llais i Fôn: Thomas Jones, Robert Ll Hughes and Chairman of the Council, Selwyn Williams
• As a consequence, McGregor has sacked the following Original Independents portfolio holders from the Council Executive: Bryan Owen (Economic Development & Tourism), Ieuan Williams (Corporate Management), Aled Morris Jones (Planning), and Kenneth P Hughes (Education & Leisure)
• The remaining Original Independents have re-grouped under a new leader, Bryan Owen. They are listed in the above graphic.
• In the end, Gareth Winston Roberts and his Anglesey Forward group (William T Hughes and Derlwyn Hughes) refused to join McGregor's new Alliance.
• Accordingly, the Alliance is now composed of Llais i Fôn (4 members), Plaid Cymru (8 members), Labour (5 members), and the Menai Group (3 members) - making a total of 20 members. 
• As the council has 40 members in total, this means that the new Alliance does not command a majority - unless the Unaffiliated councillors provide support. However as McGregor has this year sacked the now Unaffiliated Elwyn Schofield, Barrie Durkin and Goronwy Parry they are unlikely to support him. Which leaves only Peter Rogers and Robert Ll Jones - and its unclear whether these unaffiliated councillors will support the Alliance or not.
• As McGregor's Llais i Fôn group has only 4 members, it now makes it a junior partner to both Plaid Cymru and Labour. Accordingly Plaid Cymru is the senior partner - it is therefore unsurprising that Plaid leader, Bob Parry, has been canvassing support to now usurp McGregor and become leader of the Council.
• One final oddity to report is that the Lib Dems on the council now find themselves in the ridiculous situation of being in two different groups: Selwyn Williams in Llais i Fôn and Aled Morris Jones in the re-formed Original Independents.

For all those councillors who are reading (and council press office staff too) you might like to know this blog has received numerous hits today from the Commission for Local Administration in Wales, the BBC, Trinity Mirror and the Houses of Parliament (Albert must have woken up).

More news when the Druid hears it...
         

++ Coup d'état at Anglesey County Council ++

There were heated scenes in Anglesey County Council yesterday when the Council Leader, Cllr Clive McGregor, with the backing of Interim MD, David Bowles, broke apart the current ruling coalition and formed a new 'Grand Alliance" with opposition parties:

• Council Leader, Cllr Clive McGregor, has essentially disbanded the 'Original Independents' grouping (one half of the current ruling coalition) and formed a new group called Llais i Fôn ("Voice for Anglesey").
• Cllr McGregor has further called for an Alliance with the other Parties/Groups (i.e. Plaid Cymru, Labour, Môn Ymlaen, and the Menai Group) to be composed of councillors who will agree to the 'key principles' of: (a) working in cooperation with those who have demonstrated a commitment to moving forward to address the challenges facing Anglesey;  and (b) leaving behind those who remain motivated by past grievances and personal animosity
• A new 'Informal Board' will be established to replace the current Executive. Portfolio Holders on this board will be selected from all Groups/Parties and agreed amongst Group/Party Leaders in accordance with an agreed numerical distribution. - In the case that this Informal Board cannot reach agreement on certain matters the Council Leader (Mc Gregor) will make the final decision.
• The Informal Board will prioritise budgetary and efficiency issues, schools rationalisation, the future provision of leisure services, residential care for the elderly, Social Services, and matters relating to the economy of the Island.
• The Leaders of each Group represented on the Board will give a personal, public and written undertaking to:

1. 1. Make no reference, verbally or in writing, in public or in private, to any issues relating to past conduct, allegations or grievances in relation to other Alliance members.
2. 2. Commit unequivocal support to the Recovery Programme to include ongoing governance improvements to develop structures and processes  which will avoid any return to the "winner takes all' culture
3. 3. Create a unified and unifying vision for the Island of Anglesey, through establishment of a sub-group with input from external stakeholders.
4. 4. Agree that a major objective of the Alliance will be to isolate those who have consistently blocked progress and, by their actions, have refused to embrace new ways of working. This will include publicly identifying those individuals. Any member of the Groups within the Alliance who does not publicly support this stance, and refuses to "sign up" to the principle described in the paragraph above, or whom their Group Leader considers has failed to demonstrate sufficient ongoing commitment to the recovery, shall be ejected from their Group.
5. 5. Agree not to admit to their Group, or work with, or support in any way those individuals identified by paragraph 4 above.
6. 6. Collectively take steps to robustly "name and shame" anyone who obstructs the recovery.
7. 7. Reform and modernise the agreement reached among the Groups with regard to Group Leaders' meetings and to the allocation of chairs, vice-chairs, and allowances in relation to those identified by the actions described in paragraphs 4 and 6 above.
8. 8. Publicly and robustly condemn Cllr Schofiend and Cllr Durkin in a clear statement supporting the Council's position in reporting these individuals to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales for breaches of the Members' Code of Conduct.
9. 9. Take any and all opportunities to expose and marginalise those identified by paragraphs 4 and 6 above and to highlight the damage which their actions and conduct have caused, and continue to cause, to the Council.
10. 10. To support every appropriate effort to ensure that only members of the Alliance, and those unaffiliated members who have demonstrated their commitment to the recovery, shall be nominated to the role of chair or vice-chair of any committee, or to serve on any outside body, or receive any special responsibility allowance.
11. 11. If those Members identified by paragraphs 4 and 6 above seek to disrupt the business of the Council, for example by call-in, or calling extraordinary meetings of the Council then, wherever possible, the rules will be changed to limit such disruptive conduct.
12. 12. Any member of those Groups comprising the Alliance who fails to publicly support these undertakings, or undermines the Leader of their Group in discharging these undertakings, shall be disciplined collectively by the Group Leaders of the Alliance.
13. 13. It shall be an aspiration of those Alliance Groups composed of independent members, to develop sufficient common ground and positive working relationships that, in due course, they shall be in a position to consider the merits of merging into a single, unified, independent group.

A document entitled 'Terms of Engagement for a Political Alliance to secure the future of Anglesey County Council' has been prepared listing all the above terms (attached below). It has apparently been signed by:

• Cllr Clive McGregor on behalf of 'Llais i Fôn 
• Cllr Bob Parry on behalf of Plaid Cymru
• Cllr John Charlton on behalf of the Labour Party
• Cllr Winston Roberts on behalf of Môn Ymlaen (Anglesey Forward)
• Cllr Hefin Wyn Thomas on behalf of The Menai Group

It was witnessed by both Interim MD, David Bowles, and Monitoring Officer, Lynn Ball.

++ Developing - more to follow ++

Terms of Engagement

++ IOACC Senior Councillor to resign ++ (Updated again)

  
It appears that a senior councillor is to resign following certain revelations. Predictions are that the Recovery Board may be forced to step in and require the resignation of the entire Executive within weeks. Details are garbled so if you have any clearer information, post it in comments....

UPDATE: The councillor who has gone is the Conservative Mr Goronwy Parry who represents Valley. It appears that he has been forced out by Council Leader, Clive McGregor, and Interim MD, David Bowles, for "undermining the council's recovery" by supporting the expelled Cllr Barrie Durkin. Apparently Parry sent the following letter to Durkin after the latter was expelled from the Original Independents group and isolated within the council:

"I write to you as a friend although you may doubt this after last night's events. I regret any hurt that you have felt and understand how you must feel. There are many members of the group who feel your hurt. You may think that your friends have left you, but the truth is that they are still there and will miss you. I admire your forthrightness, your sincerity and your firmness that there is a difference between right and wrong. Take this opportunity to carry out you intentions. In time you will return in an important capacity within the group. Don't forget that the foot-soldiers of the group are still your friends"

UPDATE 2: In a letter to all councillors yesterday, IOACC Interim MD, David Bowles, has responded to Barrie Durkin's press release:

Dear Councillor

Allegations made by Councillor Durkin in respect of Town Improvement Grant and Housing Grant

Members will be aware of an increasing number of smears and allegations made by Councillor Durkin. Some of these are directed at me and my general approach is not to dignify them with any comment at all. I do, however, feel that I must comment when these allegations refer to other officers of the Council.

I am, therefore, compelled to write to you following a letter of the 6th April which I understand was forwarded by Councillor Durkin to all elected members of the Council and copied to the Chairperson of Recovery Board. Similar allegations have appeared elsewhere.

This letter is in response to the unsubstantiated allegation repeated by Councillor Durkin of a fraudulent conspiracy relating to Town Improvement Grants and Housing Grants which, he alleges, involves “senior officers”.

I am aware of the particular case to which Councillor Durkin refers as he raised the matter with both me and the Leader. In particular Councillor Durkin wrote to me on the 21st March raising his concerns.

You will appreciate that I will not identify the case in question for reasons which, I think, will be obvious when you have read this letter.

Having asked for an explanation from relevant officers, I replied to Councillor Durkin by e-mail on the 26th March. Councillor Durkin replied the same day to say “thank you for your reply and take full notice of what you say.”

What I told Councillor Durkin then was that there had already been an extensive investigation taking around 120 days by Internal Audit into this matter and that the matter had been referred to External Audit. It should also have been clear from that reply that if there were concerns they were not within the Council.

I can confirm to you that no evidence has been found to substantiate the allegation that “some senior officers are involved in a fraudulent conspiracy”.

I am not aware that Councillor Durkin has any evidence to substantiate such a serious allegation and, if he has evidence, he has not presented it to me.

There are certain recommendations arising out of the investigation as regards procedures and future administration of grants but there is no evidence of any criminal act by officers be that by way of a conspiracy or otherwise.

The investigations in respect of this case have raised questions with regard to the applicant and certain agents employed by the applicant. Some terms of the grant have not been complied with and the Council has requested re-payment of the grant monies.

The Council is only responsible for payment of the Home Improvement Grants. It is not responsible for the Town Improvement Grant as that is funded by the Welsh Assembly Goverment.

I must let you decide what public interest there may be in Councillor Durkin having circulated such a heinous allegation after I had previously responded to him. It is only right and proper that I write you this letter so that you may come to a view as to what may lie behind Councilor Durkin’s action.

 
UPDATE 3:  In his above letter to all councillors, David Bowles refers to a letter from Cllr Barrie Durkin. As a commenter has posted the full text of that letter below, I will also add it here. Please note: I am not taking sides; I, like many Anglesey residents, have simply gotten fed up with our train-wreck of a council. Whilst Anglesey residents have this year been hit with one of the largest Council Tax rises in Wales, our council is riven with infighting and petty politics. Anglesey residents deserve better and I believe its time that a little sunlight was let in on what is going on behind the scenes. That is why I am posting these letters here.

"Dear Mr Bowles.

Since early 2004, long before I became an elected representative of the people, I was raising issues relating to breaches of planning procedural rules and failure to declare interests at Planning Committee Meeting by members of that committee, to the point where, I have even taken part in a number of television programs on the subject. Yet although I have being vindicated on all accounts, I have falsely accused of liable,sanctioned, abused, threatened, demonised and marginalised, not just in the past, but more so now, by you".

"It is clear to me, contrary to your record of fair play and routing out wrongdoing, you have shown yourself to be more akin to attacking the messenger. This has clearly manifested itself over the last week or two and will no longer be tolerated. I believe my solicitor has written to you to no avail".

So there can be no misunderstanding, I welcome intervention; it should have been here long ago, after all, the council has not been properly run since its interception in 1996.

"I welcomed and supported you in your endeavours to move the council forward. However, we clearly have a difference of opinion on how to do this.

You wish to bury the past, shove wrongdoings under the carpet, so to speak. Where I wish to see those involved in unlawful activities , who have brought the council into so much disrepute, to book. not just relating to issues of planning, but fraud and corruption".

"This brings me to the allegations of alleged fraud appertaining to grants, which I have received recently from Mr.....and his accountant Mr...... I have informed Cllr McGregor of the situation, and look forward to see what you are going to do about it".

"I point you to Anglesey County Council Constitution page 201.6(1)B and to the requirements relating to the, Fraud Act 2006,section3. Fraud by failing to disclose information".

"Again, so there can be no misunderstanding, I am more than prepared to ensure that the above requirements are met if others fail to do so".

        

Cllr Barrie Durkin's Press Release (Updated)

  
Barrie Durkin - one of the county councillors who was recently ejected from the Original Independents group for "obstructing the council's recovery" - has released the following Press Release. As it is already in the public domain it is reproduced here without comment.
BARRIE DURKIN Press Release         
Notwithstanding the allegations contained within this document, it is beyond me why somebody who gives his primary address as Abergwyngregyn is a County Councillor on Anglesey.
  
UPDATE: Based on advice from some commenters below I have redacted the name of one person named by Barrie Durkin in his above press release. The purpose of this blog is not to defame people or spread scurrilous rumours - rather it is to try to marshall the provable facts and apply light where previously there has been none. I hope that commenters will also be courteous enough to take the utmost care to avoid making unfounded or un-provable allegations about certain persons or organisations.
    

Obstructive Councillors finally named and shamed

      

The Daily Post yesterday finally confirms what has remained unspoken until now - that the two councillors expelled from the Original Independents grouping in Early March are part of the "small minority" of "obstructive" councillors that we have been hearing so much about. The two councillors effectively named and shamed are:

• Elwyn Schofield (representing Llanerch-y-medd)
• Barrie Durkin (representing Llanbedrgoch)

Furthermore it appears that an agreement has been put in place between the various groups that these two councillors should remain isolated and not be admitted to join any other groupings. The Recovery Board has also warned them that should they attempt to form a new group it will be a "highly retrograde step".

From what I hear, in addition to a few smaller fish, there is still one other "obstructive" senior councillor - representing a ward on the North of the Island - who is yet to be named and shamed. Accordngly the Druid hopes that we will see at least one more expulsion from the Original Independents over the coming months.