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Nick Bye: 'Peace at the Town Hall has to be welcomed'
Guest columnist also insists 'every penny counts'
Torquay Town Hall Pic Guy Henderson.jpg
Reporter:
Nick Bye
03 Mar 2025 12:00 PM
Email:
torbayweekly@clearskypublishing.co.uk
Whatever is going on in the world at the moment makes our Town Hall troubles seem like very small potatoes indeed.
Whatever is going on in the world at the moment makes our Town Hall troubles seem like very small potatoes indeed. I shall leave the repercussions of the meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelensky for the Torbay Weekly Foreign Correspondent to comment upon although my immediate thoughts would be to use and modify a phrase currently in vogue in certain quarters "shame on you, President Trump".
However, whilst conflict does seem to be raging around the globe, peace has broken out at Torbay Council.
Regular observers of the local political scene will know certain characters have managed to rub each other up the wrong way (to put it mildly) getting in the way of progress. This has been especially apparent at a number of full council meetings and exacerbated perhaps by the current political balance with an equal number of (Conservative) councillors who form the council administration facing an equal number (when everyone turns up) of opposition Councillors.
Behind the scenes and at other equally important cabinet and committee meetings things have actually been a good deal more cordial but of course when everyone behaves and agrees on something (or even disagrees but nicely) it doesn't make headlines.
To ensure things run more smoothly for the next two years, until elections perhaps for a completely different and new council take place in 2027, councillors have agreed upon a new protocol "the Torbay Way".
In a nutshell it establishes the administration as above with the position of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Cabinet and certain Committee chairs all belonging to the Conservatives. Crucially it gives the Liberal Democrat and Independent Councillors a proper role in Opposition as they take the Overview and Scrutiny positions together with the chair of the Audit Committee.
I must say the external facilitator who has worked incredibly hard to get agreement on this deserves our thanks, likewise those Councillors who are standing down with good grace from their positions to allow these changes to come into immediate effect.
It is in everyone's interest this new way of working is successful and allows tensions to ease. It has always been my view expressed quite openly that opposition Councillors SHOULD take the lead in Overview and Scrutiny, the whole point of which is to make recommendations to the administration and keep us on our toes. When you have the same party running Overview & Scrutiny as well as leading the administration then it feels like the same side are making their own homework.
There are 36 Torbay Councillors so it absolutely makes sense everyone has the opportunity to make a positive contribution. I wish everyone success in their new roles.
The most recent Council meeting which supported these new arrangements also voted for the Council's budget 2025/26. It was certainly a long evening.
We are in a much stronger position than many other Councils with increases in expenditure on services to the most vulnerable, as well as initiatives to support the ambitions of the current administration at the same time as keeping Council Tax bills in Torbay lower than in many other areas. Indeed we are one of the few "upper tier" Councils which is not increasing Council Tax by the maximum just under five per cent allowed by the government, never mind the inflation busting increase of 7.5 per cent which government has agreed for Somerset for example and other places facing financial crisis.
For all the moans and groans about Torbay Council it is rarely acknowledged how much lower Council Tax bills are, band for band, in Torquay & Paignton compared with Newton Abbot and Totnes for example where folk living in Band C properties currently pay £200 more per household. At last week's Council meeting there were speeches pointing out how these lower bills resulted in Torbay Council having less to "invest" which is just a posh word for "spend ".
My hunch is most residents especially those on modest incomes would prefer to have more money left in their pockets to spend themselves, thank you very much!
In truth this good fortune is not just the result of much better financial management in our Town Hall in recent years or the continuing success of our investments. We now benefit from a more generous settlement from the new Government which favours deprived areas, also the dividend from April this year of charging double on second homes/holiday homes. Although our numbers of second homes are much lower than the South Hams and Cornwall for example it is still a useful windfall.
"Every Penny Counts" is as good a motto for the Town Hall as for Mr TESCO.
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