It looks like Jon Rogers was a bit too radical for Bristol's LibDem establishment. At Tuesday's council meeting, they'll hand over his transport brief to Gary Hopkins, (who'll also find time to continue with waste and 'targeted improvement' - whatever that is). Jon will take on responsibility for care and health.
The more progressive part of Bristol will consider this is very bad news. We've all had differences with Jon - for instance over his endorsement of the South Bristol Link Road bid - but we all know that he's been ready to discuss things on line and in person, he's been very open about his ideas, and he's been ready to think the unthinkable (like the exclusion of through traffic from the Centre).
On the council's website, the page about current Cabinet responsibilities has been wiped clean.
But as I remember, another of Jon's responsibilities was sustainability. That doesn't appear in the new list of Cabinet responsibilities. Instead, Neil Harrison is charged with that portfolio as a mere 'assistant' to the Exec. Sustainable planning doesn't get a look in - though no doubt it'll turn up in the small print somewhere.
All of which seems to reflect the national lurch of the LibDems to the right.
3 comments:
Jon was kind enough to call me today to say he was taking on a new cabinet role.
I'm sorry to see him leave the transport portfolio as his relatively non-partisan approach ensured broad cross-party backing for his efforts - which followed my contribution and that of all our predecessors. I wish him well for the future.
I'm not sure that the spirit of cross-party engagement will now be as strong given his move and replacement by someone who finds it extremely difficult to work with Labour (and other) cllrs. I hope I'm proved wrong.
Mark Bradshaw
It's not much of a secret that Jon's relationship with his staff and officers at transport was at rock bottom.
A move was inevitable just to keep the peace.
Not sure he'll fare well at health either, which is all about finance, finance, finance.
Does a move to the back benches beckon?
The Bristol Blogger wrote:
"It's not much of a secret that Jon's relationship with his staff and officers at transport was at rock bottom."
I wonder if this is because Jon actually challenged what he was being told by his officers and/or made decisions which overruled them instead of being a nice compliant councillor and doing as his officers advised, to which the latter are more used and definitely prefer.
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