Councillor Paul Sample is the first to admit that he had never expected to lead Salisbury District Council. Paul, a former editor of the party’s national newspaper and longest serving District Councillor in this hitherto true-blue Tory district, was elected to lead a joint Labour/Lib Dem Administration after the May 2007 local election ended "six years of Conservative mis-rule".
The May election was not quite a landslide but the Liberal Democrats doubled their numbers and deprived the Tories of an outright majority. Since then Cllr Sample has spent most of his time—together with the other members of the new administration—sorting out the huge financial and legal mess left by their Conservative predecessors, as well as the effects of impending local government reorganisation.
Cllr Sample, who is a former Mayor of Salisbury and a local JP, took on the leadership of the the Liberal Democrat Council Group two years ago. Since then he has been heavily involved in team building, and in focusing the group's approach to some key themes:
Bourne Office Project
The first problem on the agenda was to stop a £15.4 million council office project in the centre of Salisbury, which many predicted was on course to cost upwards of £20 million.
A major public consultation was launched, involving mailings to the District’s 40,000-plus households. The community was asked whether it wanted to:
The feedback was massive. By their responses, a significant majority of local residents told the new administration that they wanted to modify the project to reduce costs, protect the environment (and a Grade 2 listed building), and save a 200 year old “Secret Garden”.
Refuse Collections
The second major problem was to review highly the previous administration's unpopular “cheap and nasty” scheme to introduce a cut-price system of refuse collection, planned to operate on alternate weeks. As Cllr Sample says, the Conservatives had already signed the contracts for the alternate weekly waste collection prior to the election. “In a supreme act of cowardice they had arranged for the new scheme to commence in October - five months after the election. The scheme was much more about saving money than improving recycling.”
Local Government Reorganisation
The third major problem was handling the Government’s decision to abolish the District Council in 2 years time, replacing it with Wiltshire-wide unitary authority based in Trowbridge.
This agenda is the result of a successful bid by Wiltshire County Council’s ruling Conservative Group to abolish local District Councils and concentrate power into the hands of a small cabinet, based on the other side of Salisbury Plain. Cllr Sample has re-affirmed his commitment to challenging the decision in the Courts.
To defend the quality of local services and safeguard Salisbury’s future, the administration has initiated a review of the Senior Management Team, including the Chief Executive, to produce a flatter, less bureaucratic, management structure.
Other Achievements
Leisure centres, closed by the Tories during holiday periods, have been re-opened. Free swims were offered for children during the August Summer Holidays at a cost of £9,000. As a result, usage is up by 85% year-on-year, and the cost was heavily subsidised by increased canteen and vending machine sales.
A further £150,000 will be invested in refurbishing and upgrading cardiovascular equipment in the District’s major leisure centres. The aim is to help fight heart disease, improve fitness and quality of life for people irrespective of income. As it happens, the Liberal Democrat Group of councillors includes no fewer than three GPs!
As part of the reform programme, the Council Officers have been instructed to create a City Council for Salisbury in a bid to retain as much democratic control by local people and their elected representatives. The bid follows the twelve-year success of the City Area Committee, formed when the Liberal Democrats were last in control, in 1995.
Cllr Sample says that it hasn’t been easy. The new administration is largely made up of ordinary working people, many of them in demanding jobs. Unlike the members of the previous Conservative administration, many of whom were retired, the current administration has to balance the demands of careers, businesses, and families with running a multi-million-pound Council. "There have been a lot of late nights and early mornings, but it shows how much can be achieved in a short time if you are committed to delivering better services as well as your election promises to the local people.”