Havering Council’s level of scrutiny branded ‘appalling’ by frustrated councillors.

Local democracy reporter Sebastian Mann today writes in the Havering Daily.

The level of scrutiny applied to Havering Council’s policies was branded “appalling” by frustrated councillors.

Conservative and Labour members clashed with officials from the controlling Havering Residents Association (HRA) at a full council meeting on Wednesday evening (24th July).

Labour’s Pat Brown urged the authority to “get themselves together” and “properly” scrutinise reports.

She bluntly told the chamber: “The way we do it here is appalling. You don’t do it properly.”

The majority of councillors on scrutiny, planning and licensing committees belong to the HRA.

Over the past two years, seven members have defected to the group – which claims to be politically independent – and it now commands the council as a minority administration.

Cllr Brown said she had spent a “lot of time” working on a report – without proper support, she claimed – and felt it had not been “properly looked at” before it “ended up in the bin”.

However, council leader Ray Morgon said he was “slightly surprised” by the criticism and said the council prioritised outcomes.

He said: “It’s about having the right people with the right skills and focus, not about having the numbers on the committees.”

“We always welcome scrutiny reports if there’s things we can do better for residents.”

He added that no issues had been raised with the process since the May 2022 elections, when the HRA entered a coalition with Labour. That alliance ended this May, after weeks of tension.

Scrutiny committees are made up of councillors from across the spectrum and it is their role to dissect and analyse officers’ reports. They can touch on a wide range of issues, from funding to Ofsted performance.

At the end of each meeting, the committee will make its recommendation to the council’s cabinet, who will then debate and often approve the findings of a report.

There are only two such committees in Havering, one dedicated to ‘people’ and another overseeing ‘places’. Both have wide purviews, which was criticised by Conservative group leader Keith Prince.

The Squirrels Heath councillor said topics were being “squeezed together” and major areas of spending, such as adult social care, were not receiving enough attention.

He suggested introducing new committees, arguing the answer lay in “better scrutiny” rather than “putting more people on an existing committee”.

Waltham Forest Council, for example, has dedicated committees for health and adult social care, children’s services, housing and the climate.

Keith Darvill, the leader of the Labour group, said that “active members” wanted to take part but were not being given a chance.

A “disappointed” Jane Keane, who represents St Alban’s ward for Labour, expressed concern that some, unspecified members had inconsistent attendance records.

Their group’s motion to widen the committees’ numbers was ultimately shot down, by 35 votes to eight.

The meeting also saw new committee chairs elected. Labour was defeated in all three votes, as HRA councillors took on the roles of chair and vice-chair of licensing, and the vice-chair of the overview and scrutiny board.

At the most recent cabinet meeting, on Wednesday, 17th July, members were presented with reports on the government-mandated transformation plan, housing, and managing waste.

Some councillors were critical that the transformation plan, which the council was told to produce after declaring effective bankruptcy in February, had not yet gone before a scrutiny committee. The authority said this was due to timing.

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