Agile Working Plan ‘mythology’ criticised by Unison

PLANS discussed by Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board which could lead to savings of up to £2.5m have been criticised by Unison and opposition councillors.
As reported in The Herald, a different version of the Agile Working Plan to the one deferred in the summer was announced via a CCC press release in the week before the Executive Board discussed the matter.
The new version would see Parc Amanwy – identified as suitable for adaption to Agile Working in the original plan – deemed surplus to requirements, while Ammanford Town Hall and the Old Library would remain in use.
During a rather lengthy preamble, Labour’s Deryk Cundy asked Cllr David Jenkins whether this would mean that the joint health and social services team based at Parc Amanwy would be separated. He was told that the officers were aware of the need for people in different departments to work together collaboratively and this would be taken into account.
“Personally I don’t have any problem with that because I have confidence in the way that officers manage these things,” Cllr Jenkins added.
Cllr Dole launched a rather pointed attack on UNISON and opposition councillors, who he accused of scaremongering based on ‘mythology’ regarding the original deferred report.
“I will be visiting the Town Hall in Ammanford and I will be meeting all the staff there to apologise to them for the discomfort and distress they have been under for the last two months because of some of the political mischief that has been made around this,” he said.
“I would have been feeling very unsettled and unnerved, so on behalf of people making political mischief based on myth and mythology I will be apologising on their behalf. I will be asking for an apology from them at the proper time.
“Also we have the union who arranged a demonstration based on the same myth around what was happening there.
“I look forward to meeting the staff and explaining that to them.”
Following the meeting, UNISON’s Mark Evans criticised both the revised plan and the manner in which the proposal was announced. He told The Herald that members had been phoning his office to find out what was going on after the press release was picked up by local media.
Given that Cllr Dole appeared to be accusing people of unsettling staff by suggesting that a proposal similar to the one now in place for Parc Amanwy could affect their workplace, it is perhaps unclear how people finding out that they would be moving office by reading the local newspaper would be any less unsettled.
Cllr Kevin Madge, who was a prominent objector to the original plans, said that there had been no consultation with local members during the period in which the report was altered.
At the time the plans were announced, Cllr Jenkins said: “We are of course mindful of the impact any potential rationalisation of office space could have on staff and on towns who rely on trade and footfall generated by staff and customers of council buildings. This is why we asked officers to revise an earlier version of this report to develop a more prudent proposal that would have less impact in some areas, including Ammanford which has been the source of much speculation in recent weeks.
“As an executive board we have been clear that it has been too early to make any assumptions about the future use of council buildings in certain areas. We look forward to receiving this report and having a full and frank discussion before any decisions are made.”
Regarding any consultation with staff, a CCC spokesperson said: “Executive Board agreed the agile working report at their meeting on October 23. The process as laid out in the report will now be progressed by officers – that includes consultation with staff at the buildings proposed for closure.”