24/07/2026
🤔
The Exec at Pendle Council
Councillor Ash Sutcliffe, Husband, David, and I make a point of attending the Exec each month. We do this because, although we Conservatives are in opposition, the Exec is where the business of the Council is really done. All the business at Full Council is stitched up after the Exec, so the Exec should be the engine room of political issues.
The Exec is the Shared Administration’s chance to display their priorities and drive through their programme. The Shared Administration is led by the “Independents” (to the left on the photo) and their partners, the Lib Dems, though yesterday, only one of them pitched up.
We’ve noticed that there is less and less on the agenda from the Shared Administration, with the bulk of the topics being statutory items put forward by Council officers.
Being nerdish types, we three find quite a few of these topics riveting! David, in particular, relishes all the financial papers. We often find we have many points to make… our enthusiastic volubility (I *might* be the biggest offender 🤦🏼♀️) has resulted in the Shared Administration passing a vote insisting we are each allowed to speak once on each topic. This can be quite frustrating!
All this is in sharp contrast to the Shared Administration. They don’t engage with the topics, on the whole. They just like to say: “Noted!”, and rush on through. If you are not quick, you are in danger of missing your one and only chance to put your point across. 😢
Last evening, the councillor responsible for finances described them as “Tedious and boring”, before gratefully handing over to the officer who confessed to the confusing, erroneous legacy figures in the spreadsheet David was scrutinising.
I find it all most perplexing. No one wants to spend hours in the wretched Wilson Room in nice weather, but the Shared Administration’s sole focus appears to be finishing the meeting as quickly as they can.
After less than an hour, I urgently drew their attention to two resolutions by the Climate Emergency Working Group and asked whether they were going to pass the recommendations, or debate them? There was a pause, some whispering, and the answer was clearly that they were choosing to do neither: “Noted”, said the chair, clearly disappointed I was:
* Still in the room
* Dragging the meeting out
* Mentioning climate issues that do not interest them
And with that, the Exec was over for another month! Next month, it would be great if members of the public could join us in a bid to make them look interested.
Please let me know if you are free to attend on Thursday, 28th August at 6.30 p.m.
