THE Plaid Cymru group on Denbighshire County Council has blasted opposition councillors for playing “political games”.
Cllr Delyth Jones took aim at Conservative and Independent councillors while debating a no confidence motion in the local authority’s leader, Cllr Jason McLellan, and his cabinet.
The Plaid Cymru group leader accused the previous Council leadership of trying to “distance themselves from all responsibility” for the rollout of Denbighshire’s new Trolibocs waste collection system.
The vote of no confidence motion failed by 17 votes to 25, with 3 abstentions.
Cllr Jones pointed to a series of meetings held between October 2018 and April 2022 by the Cabinet of the Conservative/Independent administration.
In these meetings, the regime, led by the then Council Leader Cllr Hugh Evans, made a series of decisions regarding moving to a new system for the Waste and Recycling Service.
These decisions include identifying the best new operating model for the new service design, signing off on a revised household waste policy designed to support the implementation and regulation of the proposed service, and approving the new model of delivery.
They also included dealing with the tendering process for appointing main contractors for the phased change needed for the new refuse centre, as well as agreeing on the tendering process for the procurement of the vehicle fleet.
The final revised business case was approved by the previous Cabinet at one of their last meetings as an administration. This was a no going back agreement.
Cllr Jones said: “So, I would like to begin by referring to an aspect upon which all of us, I am sure, can agree. And that is that the roll out of the new service has been far from acceptable. And that aspects of the change has caused many challenges, frustrations and stress to residents, members and officers alike.
She continued: “So, to turn now to the current Leader Jason McLellan and the Cabinet – it is right to say that the current administration took on the policies and strategic direction and service plans that had been provided and signed off by the previous cabinet in good faith – vehicles, number of new jobs etcetera.
“A plan that was welcomed by all members of the past administration involved under the leadership of Councillor Hugh Evans.
“A plan that Councillors Huw Hilditch Roberts, Bobby Feeley and Brian Jones were high in their praise and endorsement of at the time and how it would contribute substantially to the necessary environmental and climate change agenda.
“It is the same members who are now seeking to contravene their own decisions – and distance themselves from all responsibility when challenges have arisen – I do not consider that to be good leadership.
“It is not for the current administration to go through the minutiae of the previous administration’s signed off plans after a point of no return with tendering and procurement had already been reached.
“And so, as a Group we do not believe that this administration can be held responsible for the possible missteps of the previous one.
“We believe that it is unfair to apportion full and sole responsibility to the current administration when fundamental elements of the design and approval of the service were agreed by others.
“Now to turn, briefly to other points that have also been made in connection with this no confidence motion. A few more facts, if I may:
“During last year all of us as Councillors were involved in numerous discussions led by the Leader and Lead member for Finance, Cllr Gwyneth Ellis in order to balance a challenging budget deficit that was beyond the authority’s control.
“This was a picture also being encountered by all authorities in Wales and beyond.
“Difficult decisions had to be taken in order to balance our books and avoid the risk of bankruptcy
“We believe it is disingenuous for certain members to suggest that these cost-saving measures could have been entirely avoided when all members were afforded with the numbers, when several workshops and briefings with numerous comprehensive opportunities provided for backbench members to offer credible, achievable alternative solutions of which there were none.
“Except perhaps the existence of a magic money tree some members seemed to have hidden away in their back garden.
“In respect of the unfortunate, and unwelcome reduction in Library hours that had to be taken – it is factually incorrect to say that the public consultation was ‘ignored’ as the lead member Cllr Emrys Wynne challenged officers robustly and in so doing the reduction was lowered from the proposed 50% to 40%.
“At no time where the closing of Libraries ever on the agenda as happened in numerous other authorities. As well as also pushing for the setting up of a Library task force in order to proactively investigate how the service could be transformed in creative way for the future. This demonstrates how to deal with challenging situations.
“Burying your head in the sand and attempting to distance yourself from responsibility, during periods of challenge and adversity, as some here have sought to do, does not constitute good leadership.
“We as the whole of the Plaid Group do not believe there is merit in supporting a motion that would bring about chaos and cost at a time when our energies should be on working together to face the challenges of the upcoming budget-setting process.
“We should be focussing on how we can do the best for our residents with the limited resources available to us rather than playing the political games we believe this to be.
“In conclusion, therefore, the Plaid Cymru group do not, cannot support this motion today.”
