Council leader survives no-confidence vote over library closures

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

The leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council has survived a no-confidence vote, after opposition figures criticised his handling of plans to close ten libraries.

Cllr Sean Morgan “ignored the request of the majority of councillors” when his cabinet agreed the closures in May, Plaid Cymru group leader Cllr Lindsay Whittle alleged.

Members of a scrutiny committee had earlier recommended the closures be deferred so community groups could explore taking over the at-risk sites.

Some 13 Plaid or independent members also signed Cllr Whittle’s notice of motion, which called on Cllr Morgan to resign, at a meeting held on Tuesday July 1.

Heckling

But the ensuing debate became a sorry state of affairs, frequently derailed by party political squabbling and heckling.

No sooner had the signatories started to air their grievances than Labour backbenchers launched a seemingly prepared counter-attack, singling out councillors to request their views on the council’s performance on a wide range of issues from brownfield site redevelopment to the Welsh language.

Cllr Colin Gordon, the presiding member, at first sympathised with the perplexed Plaid contingent, and said it was “quite correct” these Labour questions had little to do with the matter at hand.

But he then allowed them, despite protests from those being questioned, because he said a Plaid councillor had “opened the door” to a wider debate by first raising the council’s handling of Blackwood Miners’ Institute.

‘Whataboutism’

The descent into ‘whataboutism’ meant discussions of the leader’s handling of the library closures were often sidetracked and, indeed, there were several periods when Cllr Morgan was hardly mentioned – during a debate which was supposedly all about his leadership.

Attempting to keep a lid on the meeting, which regularly resembled an unruly classroom, was Cllr Gordon.

But even he became embroiled in several back-and-forths, and at one point warned Cllr Whittle he would be asked to leave the council chamber if he continued “interfering”.

Cllr Nigel Dix, who leads the independent group but did not sign the notice of motion, called the theatrical scenes “a comedy of errors”, adding: “I’ve seen better acting on Crossroads.”

The chamber did fall silent to hear from Cllr Brenda Miles, whose status in the Labour group has been uncertain since she challenged the leader over the libraries in an email she sent to all councillors.

Cllr Miles, who did not sign the notice of motion, said she wanted to “put the record straight” following several other councillors’ references to her.

“My status on the council at the moment is that I am not a member of the Labour group… but I am a member of the Labour Party”, she explained, adding she was facing “disciplinary action”.

It was Cllr Miles who proposed deferring the library closures during May’s scrutiny meeting.

She called the library issue a “legitimate debate to have” but said councillors “should be focusing on the scrutiny process” and whether it was operating correctly as a “critical friend to cabinet”.

Other councillors on both sides of the no-confidence row did at times stay on track.

Critics who signed the notice of motion included Plaid’s Cllr Gary Enright, who said the council’s leadership left him “unenthused and uninspired”, and Cllr John Roberts – also Plaid – who claimed the library closures made some communities feel like “second-division wards” of the county borough.

‘Proud’

Defenders of the leader included Labour’s Cllr Arianna Leonard – who said Cllr Morgan does the top job “sincerely, creatively and responsibly” – and cabinet member Cllr Shayne Cook, who said he was “proud” of the administration’s record on housing.

Cllr Morgan, responding to the notice of motion, said it “certainly feels like a personal attack from the opposition, rather than one based on reason”.

He said the consultation on libraries may have found stiff opposition to the closures from their core users, but in making decisions the council – which has to save millions of pounds over the next three years – “must still consider the needs of the vast majority of residents who do not use a library”.

He also accused Plaid of “hypocrisy” over the issue, and told the meeting that a previous Plaid administration closed Aberbargoed Library in 2011 despite “80% of the scrutiny committee voting to keep the library open”.

Cllr Whittle rejected the leader’s claim of a personal attack, replying the no-confidence vote was “purely on the issue of the libraries”.

He added being council leader was a “tough job” and said he himself had faced a Labour vote of no-confidence during his own time in the position.

The council voted 37-21 against the motion of no confidence, with no abstentions.