There is what I would call a strong rumour that the cabinet is to be reshuffled with some Labour representation.
I am not really sure if there will be a Conservative group press release or if this will only be a council press release.
The real problems though relate to the no overall majority business and the fact that there are no councillors from the two main Thanet towns in the cabinet.
Sorry about the rather short post there, a busy morning in the bookshop, I will do my best to expand what I have heard.
It’s gossip really, so I wouldn’t take much heed of it.
The cabinet is to have a reshuffle and as you would expect in Thanet this is a totally behind closed doors affair, I think the idea is to give the less senior of the senior men more responsibility, while the more senior of the senior men get less.
Apparently the Isle of Thanet Gazette wanted to get the press release before everyone else, so that they could meet the copy deadline for Friday’s paper and so they tried the old journo trick of pretending that they knew more than they did, this backfired.
With the Gazettes website blown to pieces, all the links to their stories sending you to error pages or advertising, they are reliant on old fashioned paper and of course their FaceBook site http://www.facebook.com/thanetgroup where they say:
Isle of Thanet Gazette
Thanet District Council will announce the new cabinet positions today. The Isle of Thanet Gazette team believes that the following councillors will be made cabinet members for the said positions: Councillor Chris Wells for Housing and Community Safety; Councillor Bob Bayford for Finance; Councillor Alisdair Bruce for Regeneration, Port and Tourism; Councillor Martin Wise for Internal Performance (Thanet council staff performance and council overall); Councillor Simon Moores for Waste and Parks. The announcement will be confirmed later today and we will bring you the news as we have it.The cabinet don’t seem to want to release any press release until they have shown it to the Labour group, and certainly wouldn’t tell a lowly blogger like me until last.
The real problems though relate to the no overall majority business and the fact that there are no councillors from the two main Thanet towns in the cabinet.
In Your Dreams!
ReplyDeleteNo taxation without representation..
ReplyDeleteA while back were discussing the export of live animals from Ramsgate Port. You may be interested in the follow:
ReplyDelete"Laura Sandys (South Thanet, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what powers are available to local authorities to prevent live animal exports from open ports.
Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 7 June 2011, c184W)
Michael Penning (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Roads and Motoring), Transport; Hemel Hempstead, Conservative)
Local authorities have no specific powers to prevent live animal exports, and commercial ports (including municipal ports) are subject to a general open port duty. However, such exports must meet any applicable legal requirements about animal welfare during transport, animal health and animal identification."
Here is some more on animal exports from Ramsgate Port:
ReplyDelete"Laura Sandys (South Thanet, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information regarding animal welfare (a) on the journey and (b) at the final destination is requested by the Animal Exports Division of her Department before authorisations for exports are granted.
Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 8 June 2011, c310W)
James Paice (Minister of State (Agriculture and Food), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) is responsible for checking the application for a journey log which has to be submitted by the transporter for any consignment of major livestock species or domestic equidae that are to be exported on journeys lasting over 8 hours. The application must provide, among other things, details of the length of the journey including any statutory rest periods. Once AHVLA is satisfied that the journey will meet all of the necessary EU legal requirements, it is approved. The journey log must then accompany the consignment on the journey to the final destination. The journey log must be returned by transporters to AHVLA following completion of the journey. AHVLA undertakes checks of returned journey logs to ensure the journey was completed as planned, (or if deviations occurred, these were justifiable) and that no infringements of the EU legislation took place."