Councillors were asked to make a decision on the future of our community halls, even though detailed cost, usage and maintenance figures were not provided to them and one of the largest halls in the borough, Keys Hall in Warley, is still under threat of closure by the Conservative administration.
As anticipated, our call for a referendum on the new joint Chief Executive was defeated with all the Conservatives and Labour voting against us.
Brentwood and Essex councils have agreed to form an unprecedented partnership.
So Brentwood borough is now set to lose its identity in a virtual amalgamation with a county council which has a hundred times its budget and a hundred times more clout! This marriage of inconvenience involving the appointment of the Essex county chief executive also as chief executive of Brentwood council might bring into play conflicts of interest in which the larger partner would likely prevail. This experiment could go badly wrong.
The Conservative masters of spin are hard at work as they do their best to convince us of their latest cunning plan. One minute they are telling us what a great job Brentwood Borough Council is doing providing local services. Next minute they are announcing that the Borough Council is going into a joint partnership with Essex County Council to provide a one stop shop for local services. They follow this up with the news that we are going to have one Chief Executive running both authorities, who just happens to be the County's Chief Executive.
Cllr David Kendall, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Brentwood Borough council, has asked for the following motion to be put forward at the special council meeting on 11th September 2007:
