A few debates at council last night over a motion to ask two scrutiny boards to revisit the selection of who is to chair the respective scrutiny boards for the remainder of the municipal year. The two scrutiny boards are: Education and Children’s Service, and the Stronger Communities and Neighbourhood Services scrutiny board. The issue surrounding the motion was the resignation from the controlling Conservative group after the chairs had been nominated and appointed.
I do not wish to criticise former party colleagues – they will remain as colleagues on council, where the public of Solihull will want us to work together. We are not all bad people and we all can interpret issues without getting too angry.
I do though feel the need to point out a few clarifications to rebut some of what was stated last night. I will leave it to others to decide if there is any inconsistency. For example:
At the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services scrutiny board on Tuesday 23 May 2023, where there was a contested vote for the chair of the scrutiny board, Cllr Sam Gethen proposed Cllr Andrew Burrows as chair. He was appointed and it is widely accepted he has performed admirably whilst the service area was going through a lot of change (see image 1).
At the meeting of the Stronger Communities and Neighbourhood Services scrutiny board on Tuesday 7 June 2022, there was a contested vote for the election of chair of that board. Cllr Feeney, a conservative nominated member of that board, supported the conservative groups nomination (image 2).
Each scrutiny board will revisit the selection of chair at their next meetings.
Ken Hawkins 