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New Essex County Council leader: Peter Martin replaces Lord Hanningfield (From Halstead Gazette)
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New Essex County Council leader: Peter Martin replaces Lord Hanningfield
10:35am Tuesday 9th February 2010
ESSEX County Council has announced that Peter Martin will be its new leader with immediate effect.
The decision follows a meeting of the full council where Mr Martin was confirmed as leader. It came after Lord Hanningfield resigned as leader after he was charged in connection with his House of Lords expenses.
Conservative Mr Martin, who was deputy leader, was voted in at a full council meeting at County Hall.
Lord Hanningfield, who faces six charges of falsely claiming expenses as a member of the House of Lords, made a brief speech before officially stepping down as leader.
He then left the chamber ahead of a debate on the authority's budget to a round of applause from the Conservative benches.
FULL REPORT IN WEDNESDAY'S PAPER
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Your Say YourGazette
RitchieHicks, Newtown says...
11:25am Tue 9 Feb 10
hughie-s, Here says...
11:33am Tue 9 Feb 10
RitchieHicks wrote:He has the essential qualification - comes from Chelmsford
Who's Peter Martin and what makes him ideal for the job then?
RitchieHicks, Newtown says...
12:04pm Tue 9 Feb 10
hughie-s wrote:Ha ha. Joking aside, I don't care if he comes from China as long as he does a good job and puts a stop to the current school closures in Colchester. He's not a Tory, is he? Please tell me he's not a blue.
RitchieHicks wrote:He has the essential qualification - comes from Chelmsford
Who's Peter Martin and what makes him ideal for the job then?
Soozie, says...
12:09pm Tue 9 Feb 10
RitchieHicks wrote:He is a Conservative.
hughie-s wrote:Ha ha. Joking aside, I don't care if he comes from China as long as he does a good job and puts a stop to the current school closures in Colchester. He's not a Tory, is he? Please tell me he's not a blue.RitchieHicks wrote: Who's Peter Martin and what makes him ideal for the job then?He has the essential qualification - comes from Chelmsford
Ian P, Benfleet says...
12:15pm Tue 9 Feb 10
RitchieHicks wrote:I think your worst nightmare has just come true.
hughie-s wrote:Ha ha. Joking aside, I don't care if he comes from China as long as he does a good job and puts a stop to the current school closures in Colchester. He's not a Tory, is he? Please tell me he's not a blue.RitchieHicks wrote: Who's Peter Martin and what makes him ideal for the job then?He has the essential qualification - comes from Chelmsford
RitchieHicks, Newtown says...
12:52pm Tue 9 Feb 10
Ian P wrote:My worst nightmare has just resigned!
RitchieHicks wrote:I think your worst nightmare has just come true.
hughie-s wrote:Ha ha. Joking aside, I don't care if he comes from China as long as he does a good job and puts a stop to the current school closures in Colchester. He's not a Tory, is he? Please tell me he's not a blue.RitchieHicks wrote: Who's Peter Martin and what makes him ideal for the job then?He has the essential qualification - comes from Chelmsford
londoner, London says...
1:07pm Tue 9 Feb 10
westcliffboy, Westcliff on Sea says...
1:35pm Tue 9 Feb 10
County council measures for children in care
Friday, 05 February 2010
ESSEX COUNTY Council is still dealing with a backlog of more than 800 children in care who have no allocated social worker.
A council spokesman from Essex County Council said a dedicated project team of 21 social workers has been drafted in to deal with youngsters and claimed the backlog would be cleared by Monday, May 31.
He added: "These social workers were drawn from the existing pool of permanent and agency staff working for Essex County Council and the team headed up by a senior internal manager."
The authority was served with an improvement notice in March by the Department for Schools, Children and Families.
It ordered the council to secure improvements in its children services.
In a statement on Monday, December 4, 2009, children’s minister Dawn Primarolo said the government would be strengthening intervention on children’s services in Essex.
County Councillor Peter Martin admitted at the beginning of December the council was dealing with more than 1,800 unallocated children.
He said: "Since that time, we have reduced the number of children in need cases without a social worker by over 800 and we are committed to ensure in the next few months that this is reduced to acceptable levels."
The authority is designing a final draft of how to clear the back log of cases by Wednesday, March 31, with the help of two senior consultants.
"
And he's spending heaps of our money on consultants!
marshman, says...
2:42pm Tue 9 Feb 10
If he can fiddle the nation, he wouldn't hesitate to fiddle the county.
thelonewhinger, benfleet says...
3:44pm Tue 9 Feb 10
Flip Flop, Copford says...
10:44pm Tue 9 Feb 10
davers, says...
9:28am Wed 10 Feb 10
I really have to ask myself if there was any financial incentive in this deal. Especially as it is worth up to £5.4 billion over eight years.
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Voter99, England says...
10:46am Tue 9 Feb 10