Last night was the first meeting of the new Business Management Overview and Scrutiny sub Committee. Cllr Jack Cohen is the Lib Dem representative on the committee and I went along to watch as he had called in the decision to scrap the site based Sheltered housing warden service. The first meeting was not an auspicious occasion. Jack has a very calm analytical method of questioning both officers and cabinet members and it soon became clear that there were big holes in the proposals to cut the wardens.
First up …

The Cabinet papers for June’s cabinet meeting have just arrived and they contain a report on the outcome of the consultation into the review of warden provision in sheltered housing schemes. Earlier this year the Conservative administration proposed saving £950,000 by withdrawing site based wardens and removing alarm systems from residents who did not meet certain criteria.
The ‘consultation’ carried out by the Council showed that a massive 88% of those consulted disagreed with the proposals to some extent with 81% strongly disagreeing with the proposals. The paper to cabinet outlines …