31/05/2026
📣Update from our County Council Green Group Leader Maxine Webb
(clip of Cllrs Price and Ludson at County Hall)
On Thursday at Norfolk County Council AGM, Reform scraped through to take minority control of the council. They took the Leader, and - breaking with convention to gift the position off Chair to the previous year’s Vice Chair - they claimed that too, along with Vice Chair.
They then appointed their Cabinet positions and chairs of committees. In a telling move, Reform handed chair of the council’s main scrutiny committee to the Restore party, suggesting an alliance has been agreed between the two. They went on to vote together on the majority of motions, giving them the power to oppose any progressive suggestion.
Motions opposed included:
- To strengthen support for rural residents facing cost-of-living pressures and heating oil costs.
- To provide a service protection guarantee for social care, SEND provision and support for vulnerable children and adults.
- Calling for a pause to the sell-off of Norfolk’s care homes, instead costing the investment needed to keep them under the council’s control.
- Supporting the protection of key public services and assets and to request fairer government funding for Norfolk.
In a bizarre move they also voted down a motion opposing local government reorganisation (LGR) which called for the proposed changes to be abandoned. After only days ago publicly calling for exactly that and supporting the Council’s Pre-action letter to the LGR Government minister. We scratch our heads on that one.
Members of the Green Group spoke on all motions. We also proposed our own, on Equality, Fairness and Inclusion, calling for a refresh and recommitment to the council’s equality, diversity and inclusion policies. Sadly, this was also voted down by 44 to 30 as Reform and Restore once again teamed up to show their shared colours.
They also collectively voted to review all council Net Zero initiatives, and to scrap Political Assistant posts which they went on to distastefully celebrate, as money saved on day 1. These are 3 peoples’ jobs, and roles that bring enormous value to the running of the council. We asked to bring the proposal back with evidence, and so that the absent Equality Impact Assessment could be conducted, but they voted against that too.
Challenging times ahead, but as the second biggest opposition party, we promise that Maxine and the Greens will continue positively and vociferously standing up for fairness for all people across our community, and to protect our planet. 💚
