THE political lines between two Gwent local authorities need to be set out clearly in council documents, a senior councillor has argued.
While the Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen County Borough Councils share a Chief Executive and senior staff are working across both areas, the political side of both authorities remain separate.
At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent council’s Governance and Audit committee on Monday, September 29, the need to ensure that clear separation between council’s was highlighted.
As councillors and lay independents members went through the minutes of previous meetings, the phrasing of the public record was questioned when it came to working collaboratively with the Torfaen’s Governance and Audit committee.
Cllr Lisa Winnett (Labour – Blaina) said: “I know that working more collaboratively with Torfaen is brilliant, as long as we make sure we keep our own sovereignty.
“Blaenau Gwent has its own sovereignty as do Torfaen, so we just don’t want to blur the lines between the two.”
Committee Chairwoman and Independent Lay member Cheryl Hucker said that she accepted this arrangement and pointed out the minutes noted that informal briefing sessions could be held with Torfaen’s Governance ad Audit committee to see what they could learn from each other.
Cllr Winnett continued: “It’s not for Torfaen members to go through our reports.
“The wording on that report says we’re going to have joint Audit committees not that it will be training, it’s a bit confusing.”
Director of Corporate Services Rhian Hayden said that she understood the point Cllr Winnett was making.
Ms Hayden said: “We do need to be careful, and we will be clearer around the language we use.”
Ms Hucker said: “It’s not for us to combine agenda items but there may be opportunities to have informal sessions on items such a Children’s Social Services together to maybe see what they are doing well and what we are doing well and learn from that.”
Cllr Winnett stressed that the collaboration was between council officers not committees.
This was noted by the committee.
In July 2024, Torfaen agreed to share their Chief Executive Stephen Vickers with Blaenau Gwent, who became joint chief of both authorities on a trial basis.
In January, it was agreed by councillors that the shared Chief Executive experiment was going well – and they decided to go ahead with proposals for closer working or “federation” take place between the workforces.
Mr Vickers has been putting together a new senior management structure across both authorities.
In May, Blaenau Gwent’s cabinet portfolios and scrutiny committee structure were changed to aligns with senior council staff responsibilities.
The major change has seen Social Services split with Children’s Services and Adult Services now reporting to different cabinet members and scrutiny committees.