By Carole Dennett
Well, here we go again. Another report, another consultant, another invoice for council tax-payers. Richard Penn’s verdict from his 31-page report is that the Isle of Wight Council is ‘dysfunctional’. Honestly, I could have saved us all the fee by scribbling that on the back of an envelope.
In fact, anyone who’s endured a council meeting could have done the same. Paying a governance guru to confirm the obvious feels like a new level of IW Council farce.
The report lists hostility, disrespect and deflection. If you’ve ever attended a council meeting, you’ll know it’s more soap opera than local democracy – Corrie has nothing on them. And seasoned council-watchers will see the fingerprints of the Empowering Islanders Group all over some of the antics. They challenged the Monitoring Officer’s rulings when his advice didn’t suit them. Then the Pensions Committee – chaired by their leader but shamefully backed by others – cancelled a scheduled meeting because they didn’t agree with who had been elected chairman. Empowering Islanders? How exactly?
Next Wednesday brings another full council meeting. Will they play nice? Or will it be another round of pretend points of order, muttered accusations and shouting across the chamber? Christmas may be coming, but surely Islanders deserve better than a pantomime.
But here’s the serious point. The Isle of Wight Council oversees education, adult social care, transport and much more. It spends around £500 million of public money every year – money from residents and taxpayers who expect competence, not playground politics. When government departments start firing off warning letters, and consultants are hired to remind councillors to act like grown-ups, you know things are bad.
As the report makes clear – this isn’t new. And the poor behaviour is self-perpetuating: able people won’t stand for election because they don’t want to be dragged into the circus. Yes, we have some good councillors – but too many seem blind to how their antics look to those who simply want them to serve the Island to the best of their ability in difficult times.
This report must be the wake-up call it claims to be. Some councillors need to grow up, and they all need to work with each other and officers, and remember why they’re there: to serve the Island. Because if they don’t, the next report won’t just brand them dysfunctional – it will recommend stripping them of control altogether. And then Whitehall will step in.
Do Islanders really want their council run from London because our local politicians couldn’t stop squabbling?
Tilly Walder