It’s the Lib Demcrats isn’t it? They got the most seats, don’t they run it? Yes they got the most seats in the May 2022 election but a very narrow majority.
That was potentially bad news for the officers – the Directors of Sutton Council and their myriad of wholly owned companies. Running budgets and borrowing money to fund projects depends on certainties and tiny majorities don’t do that.
Legal guidelines are clear, the proportion of seats on committees must reflect the proportion of seats on the Council – however, officers proposed to Council that even though the Liberal Democrats had just 52.725% of the Council seats, they would be allocated 60.1% of the Committee seats giving them a two-seat majority on every Committee.
Why did they want that – well the Committee system allows substitutes – so even if a member is sick, on holiday or has another reason for absence, the Liberal Democrats always have their majority.
At Council, there are no substitutes so there is always a risk – illness or even a train strike could cause absences and the risk of losing a vote.
That is why you will see a total absence of meaningful Council business at Full Council – everything is decided at Committee! The only way to bring important matters to Council is by requisition of Committee decisions, but the officers dismissed clear guidance of the Constitution and blocked a recent important requisition.
There was a petition raised by concerned residents about this and we are not sure it got the traction it deserved – anyone impacted by lousy decisions – SEN parents, SDEN customers, Environment issues, Housing issues ULEZ – you should sign the petition because this needs to change!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf3EfyC90FHzZTbgKWPqCW0flDWRxHmPZqP4amEq7Edhc4ZTA/viewform
This Council does not want to engage or listen.
SDEN, the Council’s heating system had yet another outage recently – this is the system that was part of the rationale to grant planning for the incinerator. The system is not even connected to Viridor and last year they sold their landfill interests, including Beddington Farmlands to another company – so the landfill gas engines that currently power SDEN are not even owned by Viridor!
An independent report by CIPFRA talked of optimism bias at the inception of SDEN and the finances came in for heavy criticism – was anyone held to blame – what do you think?
Yet officers are still trying to sell the concept of SDEN to a prospective developer close to New Mill Quarter.
Let’s try an anagram of SDEN and look at another Sutton Council claim – “Ambitious for SEND” – that is the provision of special needs education managed by another of Sutton’s wholly owned companies COGNUS.
Are parents wrong when they say that they are treated badly when they apply for an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) for their child – the full year statistics for EHCP Tribunals for 2021 tell the story:
Visit or dial into Council on 6th March when the Budget is presented and see just how much money is being spent on SEND and ask why we are not doing better.
At the same time watch the increase in Councillor allowances, the ballooning debt and the increase in your Council Tax and wonder where all that money goes.
And if you think the increase in the Council build at Beech Tree Place – the £30 million budget grew to £44.2 million – is a bit daft. Consider if you will, how two other Council owned companies Sutton Housing Partnership and Sutton Living – these companies transact with one another on property – yet share the same Board Chair. Impartial?
We need to have a Council that listens to residents – by the same token, just as the voices against ULEZ have been heard, residents need to ask questions. Your friends in Croydon will be counting the cost of the chaos that has transpired there – don’t wait for the same to happen here, GET INVOLVED!