The lamentable standard of debate in the Labour Cabinet is perhaps best demonstrated by this exchange at the last Council meeting.

Question to the Cabinet Member for Crime and Stronger Communities from Cllr Reid: “How many residents have attended Ward Committee meetings so far during this municipal year and how does this compare to the same period in 2010?”

Answer: Ward Committee attendance is significantly down on previous years. This is likely to be due to the fact that ward committee funding is much reduced, owing to cuts from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government.

In reality, despite cuts in funding, there are unspent funds in several ward budgets as voluntary organisations are throwing in the towel in protest over the onerous conditions being imposed by Labour for grant support.

The Cabinet member was unable to coherently explain why the annual ballot of resident’s opinions had been abandoned other than to hint that he preferred a system of patronage by Ward Councillors! Despite participation by residents hitting an all time low, it appears that’s some Labour Councillors are going to manufacture projects to use up the “surplus” ward committee funding .

One well known voluntary sector organisation in the City has apparently refused to participate in a grant management system being implemented by a Council contracting body known as “Your Consortium”. More about this next week.