Mark Lloyd – The New Listener

08:07 Tuesday 13th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Let’s get into the committee system that Cambridgeshire County Council are adopting today. They voted to abandon the local government cabinet model in May last year. Later this morning roles within the new system will be allocated. It’s proven to be a controversial decision, inciting Leader Martin Curtis to hand in his resignation. This is an edited excerpt from Martin Curtis’s blog, which has been voiced by one of our journalists.
VOICEOVER: “As I stand down as Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council I thought I would end my term of office with a series of articles which highlight where I think Cambridgeshire is on a service by service basis, and explain the concerns about why the change of direction forced on the Council is not good for you the Cambridgeshire resident. My view has always been that the decision to implement committees as the response to moving to no overall control was wrong. The decision to move to committees was made at the first full Council meeting after May’s election, with 39 out of 69 councillors newly elected. More than half of the Council had no experience of working in a county council. In those circumstances, nobody could convince a reasonable person that it was a well thought out decision, but it was one that practically ties us to a committee system for five years. So if it doesn’t work, the decision made in haste without any depth of thought leaves you the council tax payer stuck with a failing system for the next five years.”
PAUL STAINTON: That’s Martin Curtis’ words voiced up by one of our journalists. Not a big fan it’s safe to assume. He describes it as a decision made in haste without any depth of thought, and he claims it’s a system no longer supported by the majority of the Council. However we heard earlier from Catherine Staite the Director of University of Birmingham’s Institute of Local Government Studies. She says there are pros and cons to each system, and the success of the Council will depend on how councillors work with officers.
(TAPE)
CATHERINE STAITE: A lot of backbenchers have got frustrated in the cabinet and scrutiny system, feeling that they as local members don’t have the amount of say that they would like to have, and therefore they feel that by spreading the power across committees, that would give more people opportunities. I think that does work to a certain extent, but I think a local authority the size of Cambridgeshire is an enormous business. It requires strategic leadership, and there’s a risk that if you spread the power out too widely, it would take too long to make a decision.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That’s Catherine. Well joining me in the studio now is Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council Mark Lloyd. Mark, morning.
MARK LLOYD: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Nice to see you. Is this true democracy at work now, or are we going to be in some sort of state of paralysis as is the fear?
Continue reading “Mark Lloyd on Government by Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council”

17:40 Wednesday 25th September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Cambridgeshire County Council is to face its toughest financial year yet, according to its Leader Martin Curtis. He’s been giving a briefing to journalists this afternoon, ahead of next year’s budget negotiations. Well our reporter Henrietta McMicking was there to meet him and hear what he had to say, and she joins me now. Hello there.
HENRIETTA MCMICKING: Hi Chris. So the purpose of today’s briefing was to explain that the Council believes that very tough decisions are going to have to be made in the coming year, if they’re going to make their proposed cuts. They have said that they want the current net operating budget of £490 million to be cut by £33 million in the current financial year. Now as well as the Council Leader Martin Curtis, I was also speaking to the Chief Executive Mark Lloyd, and he outlined to me the extent of the budget cuts that they’re facing, not just this year, but the wider picture going back the last three years, and going forward for the next five.
(TAPE)
MARK LLOYD: Over the last three years the County Council has worked incredibly hard to make savings totalling £124 million. That includes the year that we’re in right now. And looking across the next five years, we think we need to make another £159 million worth of savings. That’s an awfully big hill to climb.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: Cambridgeshire County Council Chief Executive Mark Lloyd. Now they had some very big announcements to make about jobs and services as well Henrietta. Continue reading “Martin Curtis Signals Job Losses In A Tough Budget For Cambridgeshire”