Opposition parties promise to keep holding Tory council administration to account

During a meeting of the full council, the various cabinet members presented their annual reports, bringing everyone up to date on the year’s achievements and progress.

Roy Briscoe (Con, Westbourne), who took over from leader Eileen Lintill as cabinet member for communities, told the meeting that he was ‘honoured and proud’ to hold the role.

But he added: “I’m not keen on the politicking and some show-boating which appears to be done over the interest of our communities. It doesn’t serve them well.”

This, coupled with the fact that the various annual reports were a long list of pros and few, if any, cons, raised the hackles of some councillors.

Kevin Hughes (Lab, Chichester East) said: “What I’ve learned over the last 18 months is that when cabinet members talk about politicking, they mean people who disagree with them.

“If my residents want me to stand up for them when things need calling out, I’m going to do it.”

Donna Johnson, from Selsey’s Local Alliance, agreed, adding: “If we are asked to raise issues by our residents then that’s what we’ll do.

“If that doesn’t fit the desired narrative, I’m sorry but that’s what we’re here to do.”

While many councillors praised the numerous achievements of the past year, there were calls for more balance in the annual reports.

Sarah Sharp (Green, Chichester South) called on the council to be ‘more critical’ of itself.

She said: “It’s by looking at ourselves with a bit more scrutiny that we actually make progress and we learn.

“If you give a child a report at school and just give them 100 per cent, they’re not going to learn and grow.”

Suggesting that things were not as rosy as the annual reports indicated, Mrs Sharp said she had received a lot of calls from residents who were facing social and housing problems and needed help.

She added: “If we want to use this document as something to grow from, we have to have a little more reflection about it.

“Yes we need to celebrate our achievements but also possibly be a bit more self-aware.”

Leader Eileen Lintill insisted that the leadership did look at things ‘objectively’.

She pointed out that another report to the council – the performance indicators – laid out the highs and lows of everything from the number of people using the leisure centres to the crime levels in the district.

Mrs Lintill added: “I wouldn’t want you to think we only look at the rosy glow things – we certainly don’t. And I can assure you we won’t going forward as well.”

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