Decision - Co-operative Councils Innovation Network

Co-operative Councils Innovation Network

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Decision:

That Torbay Council becomes a member of the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network.

Reasons for the decision:

Joining the Network would provide further support to the Council as it works to become better engaged with its communities and moves towards its ambition of being an enabling Council.

Alternative options considered:

The Council is currently in the process of developing a Community Engagement and Empowerment Strategy and a range of workstreams are already underway within the Council which aim to improve community engagement, enablement and empowerment. All of this work is being drawn together through the ‘Our Community’ project within the Council Redesign Programme.

There are a number of tools available to the Council as we move towards our goal of being an enabling authority. Membership of the Network would be a further tool and would help to increase our capacity to move forward.

Implementation:

This decision will come into force and may be implemented on 2 June 2020 unless the call-in procedure is triggered (as set out in the Standing Orders in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).

Information:

The Co-operative Council’s Innovation Network is a collaboration between local authorities who are committed to finding better ways of working for, and with, their local community. It is a non-party-political active hub for co-operative policy development, innovation and advocacy which is action-focused and a vehicle for helping councils translate co-operative policy and principles into practice.

Working as part of the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network will provide the Council with additional support including an initial peer review to develop an action plan. Membership also includes attendance at their annual conference and within the member and officer networks which operate at both a national and regional level.

Interests and Nature of Interests Declared:

None.

Publication date: 22/05/2020

Date of decision: 19/05/2020

Effective from: 02/06/2020

This decision has been called in by:

Councillor David Thomas who writes Reasons for Call-in a) Torbay Council should not be joining a political ‘club’, if the administration wish to join this clearly ‘left of centre’ organization there are options for the partnership to join in their own right – but they should not be spending Torbay Council tax-payers money in such a venture. b) The Coronavirus crisis is currently costing the Council approx. £100k a day (ref: Press Release 8044 – 26th May 2020), this is not a time to look to increase the costs on the Council. The administration should be looking at innovate ideas to save money and put some of the structure in place that our residents and visitors will look for when the complete unlocking happens. c) This is very poor use of our limited resources. Ask any elected member if they would rather spend £5,500 on a project in their ward or join a political club for a year, so far the results have indicated elected members would rather spend this limited money on our illuminations, pot-holes, cleaning-up human mess because the toilets were not open on our seafront. I am confident that by the time this call-in is heard I will be able to provide a fuller response from canvassed members. d) This is a major change of direction for the Council and no consultation has taken place. "
Councillor Chris Lewis who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."
Councillor Barbara Lewis who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."
Councillor James O'Dwyer who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."
Councillor Karen Kennedy who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."
Councillor Ray Hill who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."
Councillor Judith Mills who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."
Councillor Jane Barnby who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."
Councillor John Kavanagh who writes Called in for the reasons set out by Councillor David Thomas."