Leader of Newport City Council
Personal Biography.
I was elected to Newport City Council in May 1999, and following myre-election in 2004 I was elected Leader of the Conservative Group.
I was proud to be elected as Leader of the Council on 24 June 2008. Thiswas an historic day in the history of the City’s Council as it is thefirst time we have been administered by a coalition of two parties.
My Conservative Group and the Liberal Democrat Group have signed anagreement setting out a programme of priority actions. The main focus ofthe programme is on the “liveability” agenda, although the Administration agreement has also made clear the coalition’s commitmentto maintaining high quality services in education, housing and social services.
One of our first actions was to change the structure of the Council’s decision making processes to strengthen the role of scrutiny and toreduce the number of Cabinet Members. We reduced the number of CabinetMembers from 10 to 8 and reduced the number of scrutiny forums from 8 to 6.
We agreed a cut in the current value of Councillor’s special responsibility allowances by 11%. Savings accrued from Councillors allowance reductions has been used to contribute to funding forCity-wide spending on road and pavement repairs.
We will be working to develop a ‘cross-councils’ waste management project, with continued support for re-cycling and co-operation inlandfill management and we intend to roll out a programme of weekly food collections by 2010.
I would wish to see a review of the effectiveness of the bus lanesaround the city and seek to develop a workable arrangement to ensureease of access to the city centre. I would also wish to see as many ofour city centre parks as possible obtaining green flag status.
Our plan contains a significant number of commitments. It was considered by the Cabinet at its meeting held on 15 July 2008. This has beenupdated regularly. To see a copy of the most recent update please click here.
I will be undertaking the role as Leader and Chairman of the Cabinet.
The recent economic downturn has impacted upon everyone. The Council continues to work hard to provide excellent services at good value tothe people who live and work in our city. Despite the current economic downturn, major regeneration projects are underway across the city, ranging from new housing schemes, a new university campus in the city centre to new retail and business developments.
To read more click here.
As Leader of the Council and Chair of the Cabinet, I am responsible forLocal, National and External relations. I also lead on performance Management and delivery of the Corporate Plan. I will, of course takethe lead in the preparation of draft Revenue and capital budgets for consideration by the Council.
As Leader of the Council, I also represent the Council on a number ofimportant associations and partnerships such as the WLGA, the Local Service Board and the Connecting South East Wales partnership.
Outside of politics, I am a keen supporter of Newport and Newport GwentDragons. I am past captain of Stow Park Lawn Tennis Club, a member ofNewport Golf Club, Friend of the Newport Ship and member of the 104 Regiment Luncheon Club.