Agenda item

To follow.

Councillor Cowling, the Leader of the Council, presented the following statement:

"I hope you have all had a good summer and been able to take in some of our local agricultural shows.  We have a very diverse range of shows, which all provide a magnificent showcase for our food and farming industry, but I will have to single out the Ryedale show for special mention.  It was fabulous  - especially looking back on the history of the show.  It was great to see the Duchess of Kent attend the show in its 150th year.

Following on with the agricultural theme, I am pleased that the Government has  announced  that it will continue to pay farm and other subsidies currently received from Brussels after Britain leaves the European Union until 2020 .

The £40million pound fund to help tourism is also very welcome and recognises the importance of tourism to our economy - tourism was worth in  excess of 22billion pounds to the country last year.

The Treasury has also promised it  will fully fund structural and investment funds, which are significant to our LEP area and our growth plans, which we have agreed in the Ryedale Economic  Action Plan . This should be good news for the extension of Thornton Road Industrial Estate -  which is one of the schemes which has been prioritised for progression through the application for Local Growth Deal funding.

We have quite a sizeable agenda tonight and I do not intend to talk at any great length. My last topic for tonight will be Ryedale District Council.

For more than 25 years now I've watched Ryedale develop into the successful and efficient organisation it now is. It never ceases to amaze me that every 4 years we have new Members who are prepared to put their heads above the parapet and give over their time to help make Ryedale a better place to live. Perhaps if they attended a few of our full Council meeting they would think twice.

But more than that I'm immensely proud of the staff of Ryedale District Council who continue to rise to the challenge of continuous change in order to deliver front line services to the residents of Ryedale. Their dedication and versatility is unbelievable. We are a very small organisation and many of us have known each other for many years. It makes me very sad to see Members of this Council accusing staff and Members of condoning bullying, abuse of powers of delegation and  breaking the Council's Constitution. Because of the controls we have in place it would be almost impossible for this to happen without the knowledge of a considerable number of staff and Members. So it follows that Councillor Clark is accusing many of us, I've already said some of this but, that Members, if you really have knowledge of such incidents, is fully aware of the procedures to follow. I would say that he not only has a moral duty but a legal duty to report such incidents. So Councillor Clark, bring your evidence forward. I'm absolutely confident that there is no culture of bullying in Ryedale District Council. The only bullying I see is that by a certain Member towards officers of this Council, officers who have no right of reply. We've all witnessed it tonight, absolutely unacceptable behaviour. Bullying by a failed anarchist who has timed his allegations to perfection in a calculated move to try and inflict harm when our organisation is at a vulnerable stage in its development. Both Members and staff alike are feeling the strain of  change. It is fairly obvious that Councillor Clark is trying to damage this Council and is prepared to go to any lengths to do so. Quite why he wants to do that I haven't yet worked out but the rest of the Members and the staff need to stand united and join me in condemning his actions."

The following question was received on the Leader’s Statement:

1.    From Councillor Clark

"Is this addendum to your statement going to be in the minutes, in the additional bit to the minutes or are we going to get a copy of it of not? Because if we're going to make accusations it would be nice to see what's written down. If not, don't worry about it. It would be nice through you Chair, if we knew if we were going to have a copy of this or not."

The Chairman confirmed that it would be in the minutes.