The borough council has announced:
“Councillor Richard Brooks and Councillor Charlotte Morley have resigned from their respective positions as Leader and Deputy Leader of Surrey Heath Borough Council.
“A new Leader will be elected at an Extraordinary Full Council meeting on 29 January 2020.
“In the interim, the Executive will collectively lead the Council.”
Of course, we have no idea why both councillors resigned. The fact that, back in August, we suggested that the then Leader could be one of the “villains” involved in the Chief Executive’s pay award may be completely irrelevant.
(What we wrote back in August was:
“We’re being a bit premature, perhaps, here. Our current Leader was the deputy of the previous Leader for years. The implication must be that they shared similar views. So, potentially, our criticism of the previous Leader’s attitude applies to the current Leader’s attitude too. Of course, this is tentative, but – and it is a big BUT – we’re not aware that the current Leader has said anything public about the pay award. Unless they speak out soon, we’ll conclude that they do agree with how the award was made.”
We’re still not aware that the now-resigned Leader has said anything public about the pay award.)
The Camberley Eye 
I’m sure that whoever replaces them will be from the same background and that it will be business as usual…
Were they part of the exec with Wheelan?
You’re somewhat mixing apples and pears, perhaps, Jane. Karen Whelan is (was?) head of the paid council staff. The Executive is the ‘top’ committee of the elected councillors. But it’s always struck me as odd that it’s the Chief Executive who convenes meetings of the Executive.
Is there any update on the Chief Executive’s pay award? It is now 5 months since she went on ‘gardening leave’, this is so wrong on many fronts, that it has taken so long with no resolution. No doubt, Karen Whelan is on full pay and the Interim Leader (and his Deputy?) have had a pay boost to cover their increased responsibilities. Therefore we, the Council Tax payers are having to pay twice for such iniquitous activities.
I’m of the same opinion as Paul, it is going to be ‘same old, same old’ when the new person/s are appointed.
The ‘interesting’ thing is that, apparently, the Chief Executive was paid extra for taking on extra duties. But at the same time – as I understand it – the then deputy Chief Executive moved from a four day week to a five day week to take on work which the Chief Executive couldn’t manage (because of her extra duties…?) so the deputy’s pay was increased pro-rata… Hmm.
Just to muddy the water, there isn’t – apparently – an Interim Chief Executive (not ‘Leader’ – that’s something different). Instead, there’s a Deputy Chief Executive (Interim). That role is filled by the person who used to be Deputy Chief Executive. Work that lot out! But, yes, I believe he’s had a pay rise.
Well, hopefully the changes from the local elections will mean this is not the case.
It is interesting to note that this ‘pay award’ only came to light with the election of a much more diverse group of Councillors. If this hadn’t happened, no doubt we would have been none the wiser. Hopefully now, with a much broader range of political councillors there will be more accountability, something that has very sadly been lacking for many many years.
Technically, I’m not SURE that you’re right. I believe the saga started quietly with a councillor – could have been a Tory – just asking why the significant increase shown in the draft accounts. I wasn’t at the meeting, so maybe I’m wrong. But certainly having a diverse group of councillors has made it harder to sweep the story under the carpet. (The fact that the chair of every committee comes from the same party just makes change more necessary. Maybe the best person was chosen for each job, but the public impression is of a rotten council.)
Mulling over the reasons for the resignations it seems likely (as there is not yet an official explanation) that the investigation is complete and they don’t come out of it too well – as you allude to in your header.
I hope I didn’t allude to it. Whether I suspect it is another matter entirely….
Let’s hope that everyone reading the Eye is keeping up to speed…it’s complicated…but let’s face it …it all stinks …wishing for a speedy decent end to the long………investigation….it’s costing us all as taxpayers a great deal of money …
I was in Ireland this weekend and bumped into an American, from West Virginia, and somehow got on to the topic of local governments and how in runs in the uk compared to the USA, and how council tax works and what it pays for.
He was very keen to understand how my borough council operated so I explained about how’s it’s been a one party operation for decades, the chief exec is on gardening leave whilst an investigation was undertaken into suspicious payments etc.
I also mentioned some of the other ongoing investigations (which I won’t detail here) and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He described it as polite corruption.
An interesting description. Once upon a time I used to believe that councils were largely honest, with just the occasional rotten apple. I begin to think that I’ve been naive.
Had dinner with an ex councillor from Windlesham and an ex Mayor of Winchester recently whilst we were abroad.. not planned…just happened..and asked the question..who does the CEO of a council report to and how difficult is it to get rid of them..Answers….
No one and difficult !
Spot on. The elected councillors can, I think, in extremis, dismiss a CEO. But in practice the ‘best’ way is to pay them to leave.
I hope they now realise they ARE accountable for their actions.. Well done David for your perseverance.
All very interesting, thank you David for keeping us in the loop. I suspect the problem with Council management across the board is that there just isn’t that much real interest taken by rate payers generally and therefore little focus on results and good management. Its always better when the mix of Councillors is better – with a huge majority things coast along. I suspect less than 10% of local residents are actually taking an interest in whats happening in SHBC, I often talk to residents who have no idea that the Chief Executive is currently on “extended leave” or why. We should all encourage every resident we know to sign up to the Eye – what a service!
Many thanks for the compliments, Alan. I have some sympathy with local residents who don’t take a lot of interest in council affairs. The council doesn’t exactly go out of its way to involve residents, or keep them informed. (I’m not talking about official consultations and communiques, but about genine, friendly, communication using every-day language.) So most residents can find more rewarding things to do.
Question. Step down. Does that mean an election for Camberley Town Cllr.?
You’ll see in a slightly more recent Eye post that the former Leader and Deputy Leader didn’t attend the meeting of the Executive, and they weren’t mentioned in ‘Apologies for Absence’. So they’re presumably stepped down from the Executive completely.
At the moment, the announcement just says that they’re standing down as Leader and Deputy Leader. Whether their roles as ‘ordinary’ councillors – or county councillor in the case of the deputy – are affected hasn’t been stated.
Have to agree with Alan ..have pointed many friends in the direction of the EYE and amazing how many people whinge but are not connected!..went into Camberley today to the cinema…hubby was shell shocked! How do we get ratepayers connected…are we allowed to
attend the extraordinary meeting next week…am appalled that reasons have not been given for those recent resignations?
The announcement was crass. As no reason was given, under the circumstances readers will assume the worst. The resulting damage to the council’s reputation couldn’t be greater if the truth had been published. (Maybe criminal prosecutions are preventing any details from being given, but there are ways of announcing this which at least will seem to be honest and open, rather than being a cover up.)
Sure the replacement will be from the old guard …….god help Camberley so called regeneration it stinks how long before we find out the budget is overspent due to unforeseen circumstances hidden services under the High Street etc etc let’s hope we get regular updates with progress against schedule
It has no doubt come as something of a shock, since the last election, for the Conservatives not to have a free hand to do as they have done for many years with no one to question them. It would be more surprising if any of them (and I’m looking at you Edward and Josephine Hawkins, my local Conservative councillors) chose to tell us the truth about what is going on. Why has the report into the CEOs pay award not yet been published, when it will be published and what this investigation has cost? Will the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, who have resigned their posts remain as Councillors or do they propose to stand down and if this is the case will there be by-elections to fill the vacancies?