Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
In defence of the appointment of Nick Walkley
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Haringey Council's decision to appoint Nick Walkley as our new chief executive. A lot of what happened on his current role in neighbouring Barnet has been written in the local and national media, and discussed here and elsewhere (and we desperately need it considering the 'Journal' newspaper has just shut its doors), but we need to look beyond that.
What is needed right now is a CEO who is prepared to tackle the ongoing problems within the very council administration. Councillors need to be brave in thinking; "Well, we got things wrong at present, so let us try something else for a change." We should be grateful that Walkley is prepared to come here at all. Very few in the local government community would touch the job managing a borough with such a poor reputation such as ours with a barge pole.
If Walkley has come here to consider 'thinking out of the box', then councillors... and critics here... should do so too. The borough desperately needs change and we need all the help we can get, at a time when the council hasn't even begun to prepare on how to deal with the changes, for example, in the health service and the benefit systems.
I think that in all the arguements for and against, we need to look at Walkley's appointment with an open mind.
Tags for Forum Posts: haringey chief executive, nick walkley
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Helen on
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A pre-emptive demo is appropriate considering Walkley's record at Barnet. If the Council want residents to look at his appointment with an 'open mind' then we need them to categorically state that it is not their intention to implement mass privatisation of our services. Privatising services is not going to solve Haringey's problems, it is far more likely to make the problems worse and waste lots of money in the process.
So until we get confirmation that our services are safe I would encourage residents to attend the HAPS rally at the Civic Centre at 5.45pm on Oct 16th, and to sign the petition:
Say no to Haringey 'easyCouncil' Chief Executive
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And what if the vision they sell you at election time is different to what they implement once they're in. In your book should we all just wait for another 5 years while they do what they like with our borough?
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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That's fine, Neville, as far as it goes. And I would have fewer worries if there was a clear indication that Nick Walkley is coming to us with an open mind, committed to thinking "out of the box"; and looking for new solutions and new ways of understanding and framing old problems.
I'd also be less concerned if there were indications of Mr Walkley being given a brief to change the Council's closed, secretive, top-down culture, to one where openness and of listening and learning is fundamental to how Haringey does business. If I thought he was going to set about building a culture which respects and values local knowledge and the experience and views from the widest range of residents; and also the professional knowledge of staff both internally and outside the council. A culture of 'Who knows' rather than 'who's who'.
But so far, none of the indications we have suggest anything of this kind. Read the Barnet Blogs - not just the Labour ones but a range of different people.
Of course, I may be entirely wrong and Mr Walkley may turn out to be a practitioner of the very best collaborative and open organisational thinking. In fact he may even be the mentor which plainly, Claire Kober so desperately needs to begin learning how to lead a local council.
Before voting to endorse Mr Walkley I'd like to know some more about him and the plan he is arriving to carry out. I'd like him to "set out his stall" for the residents of Haringey. After all, he's supposed to be working for us.
Of course, people are right that the direction of the Authority should be set by the Cabinet and Senior Managers working together. Especially the Leader and Chief Executive. So as well as Mr Walkley's plans, I'd like to know what plans the Leader and her allies have in mind for Haringey and why they think Mr Walkley is the man for the job. Is it more and more privatisation? Has Claire Kober a One-Barnet style solution?
It's not that Claire Kober doesn't say things. Of course she does. But it's usually vacuous. And almost always in accordance with what the journalist Simon Hoggart calls "the law of the nonsensical reverse". For example, imagine a politician saying they are passionate about combating youth unemployment. And then ask if any politician would ever say the opposite; 'I don't give a toss about unemployed young people.'
Or take: "We have made progress since the riots of August 2011, but we are determined to see this progress accelerate." Did anyone expect the reverse? 'Nothing much changed since the riot and we anticipate even less.'
Or how about this pearl? "All of us - whether we live, work, visit or invest in the area - need to share a determination to succeed. I hope that when you look at this plan you will share the ambition, and that you will share in the joint effort needed to deliver a better Tottenham for all."
Sure. All those people who want a worse Tottenham should move aside. Anodyne fluff.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor 1998-2014)
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Alan I think we share a dislike of glib PR phrases. HP magazine is packed with them.
My hope is that somebody somewhere, at some time, will ask a basic and overlooked question: what is the purpose of the council?
At one time, there would have been little difficulty in answering this: to serve the residents, the public. This is often still an aim of the council, but over the years its slipped down the list of priorities.
From the viewpoint of the non-political, the council comes across mainly as a grasping institution that roams the streets looking for excuses to raise taxes upon parked cars.
For closer observers, the council is an empire that seeks to preserve itself where it cannot expand. These days this takes the form of jobs, pensions and around the top, huge salaries (including the CEO). Plus grotesquely large golden parachutes and "compromise agreements".
At one time, Cllr. Goldberg promised a sensible policy: front line services would be preserved as far as possible and cuts would be made to the central bureaucracy. Unfortunately, the opposite appears to have happened.
Neville is right about the need for change.
Some parts of the council need reform; some parts need more resources applied to them and still other parts need a heavy hatchet taken to them. One Labour Councillor, who'd better remain nameless, told me that a Chief Executive needs to be a b'stard.
I don't know if Mr Walkley is such; his appointment may turn out to be for good or ill. But in any event, I don't think his performance at Haringey should be judged before it's even begun.
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Permalink Reply by aidan on
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I'm inclined to agree. I'd also express a distaste for protests against individual staff members, and against people rather than policies. Where does that stop?
Councillors and the leader are the accountable people, and so if there is to be a protest, they, and more specifically their policies, should be the target.
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A Chief Exec is more than just an 'individual staff member' and in Barnet Walkley wanted his name associated with the policies he was implementing. But the lobby is of the Council meeting anyway so you should be happy with that - it's where the Councillors meet and in theory are supposed to discuss their policies, although the ones I've seen were more about party political point scoring than constructive discussion for the benefit of residents.
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Permalink Reply by 2m5i0b4ud3z4e on
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Lets face it - Haringey council is a shower of **** so it cant possibly get any worse with the non delivery of services -- REFUSE COLLECTION
and then there is the general 'couldn't give a f**** attitude of the employees - add on the back handers, the corruption (staff using parking permits to park in our roads near the HQ) illegal multiple flat homes which the council has not yet closed down in our road plus the all round general salivating when it comes to development most of it bad will not change.
The fault lies at the top with kober and cronies - a total lack of vision
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Permalink Reply by Seema Chandwani on
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Hi Neville,
I think your point is a fair one, there are many things this Council does badly and a change at the top may give it the leadership it requires. There are also things this Council does well, I do not think they are highlighted or recognised enough. I also agree that there are wider issues about to impact our borough in regards to further cuts and changes in health care and benefits.
Despite me and you being from different camps (you a Lib Dem and me Labour), there are things, from observation we both desire and they are efficiency, accountability, effective delivery etc. We may have different views on how this is achieved, but both of our hearts are in the right place... and one day you'll come around to my way of delivery :)
However, [You knew there would be a however didnt ya?!!].
- This is not a CEO who has come from a 'Super Council' where he has a track record of turning things around, for the betterment of his residents, in fact it appears he has jumped ship half way through a major change and before his vision of improvement has been allowed to take shape and prove themselves.
- His outgoing spend on Consultants is high
- The number of Managers he employed on contracts over £75k went up
- Frontline services like Libraries were badly hit
- Parking in Barnet has been a contencious issue, which has led to many small businesses suffering.
- The impact on his mass £1bn privatisation scheme is a huge gamble
- His dealings with contracts have been shoddy
- His ability to take direction from elected reps is going to be a wake up call for many Cllrs
- His committment is worrying, do we need/want a CEO who leaves half way through a mass plan?
I would be the first person to be happy if we got a new CEO who was radical but produced results, sadly this guy has not got that track record, in fact he has the opposite, Barnet which was once a productive and effective borough that was hit less harder than Haringey with cuts is in a worst situation.
I would not support a Head being appointed to run a failing school which came from a school that was equally failing. I would not recommend Vieola as a bin contractor to any other borough, I wouldnt recommend Bob Diamond to run a bank. Why? Because I want the best, or at least someone who has not yet had a catelogue of concerns.
I would love to have a new CEO that had an open mind so that I too can greet him with an open mind, but I would be foolish knowing all we do about him to not be concerned.
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Are you sure you are debating with me? Your responses completely miss my points... Its all very confusing!!
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Permalink Reply by Neville Collins on
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@Seema,
"We have different views on how this is achieved, but both our hearts are in the right place... and one day you'll come around to my way of delivery :)"
Since you're Labour, have you considered standing for office in 2014, possibly replacing our dear friend Alan? At least you can't be worse than many of your colleagues on the council at the moment.
@Alan,
You've often been a critic of council leader Calamity Kober, and with good reason, but why didn't you consider standing for the Labour leadership when you had the chance? Surely a council led by yourself would have preferable and needed at this time, which is a shame that you are standing down. Haringey desperately needs councillors like yourself, regardless of political colour.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Alan held his tongue for a remarkably long time.
Yes Billy, when you're writing things like this "Jeez am bizarrely defending the Haringey leadership", you've obviously contradicted yourself. Tell you anything?
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Claire's Accessories is not up to his usual standard, I agree. It is however the kind of thing I expect from you now and then so interesting that it wound you up ;)
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