Keith Prince’s inaugural meeting as Conservative leader began immediately (@4minutes)1 with a complaint about exempt items. Strangely, he was quasi-apologetic, which contrasts with his usual combative style. Martin Goode continues to star in this committee and he should be a mentor to Keith. Martin does his homework diligently.
Martin’s comments (8 mins) were perceptive and helpful. He built on this later when commenting on the Climate Change report (24mins). Keith Darvill2 discussed the use of heat pumps and Martin asked whether Havering was on the hook for conversion costs for the houses which are to be leased for the homeless. (LBH is leasing them for 10 years.)3 The question was asked but the answer? This problem clearly hadn’t been considered showing Havering’s failed understanding of a cross-cutting approach.
Gillian Ford made five contributions (12 mins) (19 mins) (27 mins) (29 mins) (35 mins) without offering insights. Keith Darvill’s (20 mins) cross-cutting Climate Change item was a golden opportunity for cabinet members to make departmental responses. Oscar Ford should have commented on the environmental impact of route design for school transport but didn’t. Paul Middleton’s new Leisure Centre is a huge energy user and a comment on that would have been helpful in a review of Havering’s Climate Change aspirations.
Climate Change is critically important and to passively ‘receive’ a report is a reckless dereliction of duty.
Notes
1 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) All timings relate to this webcast
2 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Cabinet, 14/06/2023 19:30 (havering.gov.uk) Item 7 is very interesting
3 See item 5 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Cabinet, 14/06/2023 19:30 (havering.gov.uk) Summary statement 1
Politics in Havering 