James Kempton Speech on Listening (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

James Kempton Speech on Listening

June 29, 2006 12:00 AM

James Kempton When the Liberal Democrats took control of Islington Council in January 2000 it was a comprehensively failing organisation. The rubbish wasn't collected phones weren't answered, and nothing seemed to work as it should. For six years the Liberal Democrats made it our urgent priority to transform Islington Council - and we did it.

However inevitably such a rapid improvement meant cutting some corners. Islington Council is now a very different organisation. It works well, and when we take a decision to do something, it happens. The elections last month also produced a different political balance in this Chamber. In these new circumstances I want the Liberal Democrats running the Council to spend more time talking and listening to other people in Islington. We have some vital decisions to take for our borough over the next few years and I want us to consult and listen and exchange views with as many people as possible as we do that.

That certainly includes working with the opposition in this Chamber - Labour and Green councillors. I want us to have sensible discussion before taking decisions. That won't be easy. One of the things we have learnt over the last six years is that even when you run the Council you can't have everything the way you might want it. You have to work within other organisations' timescales, within what the government allows, and within what is physically possible. Running a council means making hard choices - not always taking the best way forward you would like, the best way forward that is possible. So I challenge the opposition as well to make this work - to join with us in sensible debate about the real issue. Opposition councillors won't always get what they want - just as councillors on this side cannot always have what we would ideally like. Making this work is a challenge to us all and I hope we will all give it our best shot.

Our new style also means consulting more widely with the rest of Islington. This council faces many important decisions - I want to share the options for those decisions - the pros, and the cons, and the job of balancing them, more widely. Something I know people on both sides of this chamber all share is a wish that more local people will engage actively in the decisions facing Islington.

Finally I just want to say something that 'Listening to Islington' is not. It does not mean that every Islington resident will always be 100% happy with every decision the Council takes on every issue. That does not mean we haven't consulted and listened - it means that there are 180,000 people who live in this borough, all with their own views which are often contradictory. What I can promise we will do is to listen as widely as possible and to share the choices we face. My challenge - and hope - to the opposition is that they will join us in making serious and constructive contributions to the debate about how we continue to improve services.