I was invited to join the cabinet in May 2014 as cabinet member for resources.
As this is a full time role I had to make the difficult decision as to whether I should accept this position and leave the full time job I had at the time. I chose to leave the job I had and become a full time Councillor.
I go in to the office every day and attend relevant meetings and deal with correspondence from the ward and other relevant organisations.
I also attend meetings in other parts of the country as and when required.
Council Work
Meetings I have attended and committees I am a member off
- Full Council Meetings
- Fortnightly meetings of Cabinet
- Personnel Committee (Sub-committee Cabinet)
- Employees relations sub committee
- Weekly Cabinet Briefing
- Weekly individual portfolio briefing
- District committee
- Member of heavy woollen planning committee
- Member of strategic planning committee
- Cabinet committee local issues
- I meet weekly with the leader and chief exec
Representing Council on outside bodies and groups I attend
- Historic buildings trust of which I am a director
- West Yorkshire Combined Authority scrutiny committee
- Huddersfield South tenants and residents meetings.
- I am a trustee of the Denby Dale community project
- I am a Councillor on Denby Dale Parish Council and have been for 24 years
- I am Chair of the friends of Skelmanthorpe library
Cabinet
This year the focal point of my work as cabinet member for resources was heavily focused on delivering a budget in February that set out the Councils spending plans for the next three years.
This was a huge challenge and took up many hours of time and many meetings with officers and colleagues to try to deliver a balanced budget despite the cuts in our budget forced on us by central Government. Despite the financial difficulties the budget we delivered in February did manage to protect the services that are most needed by our poorest and most vulnerable residents. It was not possible to ensure that all services were not cut or reduced but given the financial challenges I believe it was a budget that delivered the best possible outcome.
The other big issue was the time and effort that was put in to developing a reconfigured library service. I attended many public meetings and met a huge amount of staff and users of the service as we started to formulate plans for its future.
I am proud that cabinet recommend to full Council that we introduce a local living wage and that Council ratified this, and it has now been implemented.
Ward work in the Year
- During the year I have organised and attend 4 coffee mornings in various parts of the ward
- I carried out 4 street surgeries around the ward
- I have dealt with large amounts of e mails and telephone calls from residents, on issues ranging from personal issues to pot holes, speeding traffic etc.
- I have delivered several thousand leaflets
- I have knocked on many hundreds of doors and spoken with residents
- I have sent out many thousands of letters to residents to keep them informed of specific issues
- I have attended meetings from local groups and several public meetings around the ward
As a trustee of the Denby Dale community project I have attended monthly meetings as we try to develop a real community facility in Denby Dale to house the library and to generate income to support it in the coming years. I have spent a couple of Saturday mornings along with fellow trustees in the village centre raising awareness of the project and much needed funds.
I have organised several public meetings in Skelmanthorpe to discuss the future of the Skelmanthorpe library from these meetings a friends of group has emerged and I am proud to be the chair of that group, the group meets monthly and is now in a very strong position to help support the library in the future. I am very grateful that members of the community have stepped forward to help secure the village library.
As a member of the planning committee I have always voted and spoken against all inappropriate development not only in my ward but throughout Kirklees. I believe that the current planning system is flawed and does not meet the needs of current residents and fails future generations, it is a constant battle with developers to get them to provide affordable homes despite the huge profits they make from developing sites within Kirklees. The system now makes it very difficult for the committee to object to plans as legislation has been changed to favour developers over elected members, and this can sometimes quite rightly cause friction between the committee and members of the public.
Training
- I have carried out the relevant planning committee training up dates
- I have attend courses on CSE
- I have attend several training sessions with our directors on enhancing my role as a cabinet member
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| Coffee Morning in Skelmanthorpe with local residents and MP Paula Sherriff |
