Councils rough it in Studley for brainstorming getaway
Tales of the huge personal sacrifices made by West Midlands council and business leaders during their “away-day” break at Studley Castle in Warwickshire are enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Last year, the shadow city region board wallowed in the comparative luxury of the Raddison Hotel in Birmingham.
This time, at a cost of £4,260, the eight leader plus assorted officials and hangers-on decamped to the Best Western Studley – a Victorian pastiche of a medieval castle.
The hotel’s website describes Studley, built in the 1830s, as a “place of great character, charm and contrasts”.
My man at the top table begs to differ.
David Smith, vice-chairman of the city region board and the leader of Lichfield Council, bristled at the suggestion that, in the current economic circumstances, it would have been better to have gathered for free in one of the West Midlands’ many council premises.
Smith said: “If we were at a five-star hotel and it was somewhere exotic, I would agree.”
But, David, surely Warwickshire is exotic when compared with Staffordshire?
Smith was having none of it: “When you are looking at very basic accommodation in a conference setting, it’s not exactly the Ritz. We didn’t go for a junket.
“It’s a beautiful location and a lovely building but I can’t exactly say if I had the choice of being at home mowing the lawn or being at a conference I would have chosen the conference. It’s just an extension of the working week.
“By comparison with some of the hotels we could have gone to, it was a very modest operation.”
It is reported that the council leaders may have been put off their no-doubt highly important deliberations by the late arrival at the breakfast table of a tray of fried eggs.
Good grief. You can’t get the staff these days.
* * * * * * * *
Toffish Tory James Hutchings has just finished chairing a scrutiny inquiry into Birmingham Council’s use of consultants.
He concluded that the Tory-led council has no idea how much it spends on outside help or how many consultants it has on the books.
The rules of democracy would allow, you might think, councillors to quiz Hutchings about his findings.
Apparently not. Attempts by opposition Labour leader Sir Albert Bore to ask questions at this week’s full council meeting were vetoed by chief legal officer “Doctor” Mirza Ahmed on the grounds that Hutchings is merely the chairman of a scrutiny sub-committee rather than a full committee and the standing orders do not allow for sub-committee chairmen to be questioned.
How convenient.
* * * * * * *
Peter Douglas Osborn has lost none of his wit since becoming chairman of Birmingham Planning Committee.
Asked to comment on a survey which condemned Selfridges in the Bullring and the Central Library as two of the country’s ugliest buildings, Osborn pronounced: “This is because the people surveyed hadn’t visited the Bullring, but had definitely visited the Central Library."
* * * * * * *
Chauhdry Rashid, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, has banned councillors from walking past the Mace during full council meetings.
Members must now go to the back of the chamber in order to reach the side exits.
Getting too close to the Mace is disrespectful, apparently.
Pretentious? Moi?
* * * * * * *
Veteran Birmingham Tory councillor Len Clark has veered off message again.
No surprise there then, although he does it so eloquently.
Clark, listening to council chief executive Stephen Hughes blathering on in a scrutiny committee about the Local Area Agreement which sets out all sorts bold plans and targets for improving the lives of people living in Birmingham, had a magisterial put-down: “Plans are the enemy of flexibility,” he trumpeted.
Clark is old enough to remember the 1970s when he was a Labour member of the West Midlands County Council.
Similarly radical plans to boost employment, cut crime and social deprivation were drawn up by well-meaning officials and politicians.
But guess what happened?
The economy collapsed, Britain was on the verge of bankruptcy and the rescue plans were blown away by soaring unemployment and inflation.
Does this sound familiar?
