There are two things that get right up my nose when it comes to politics.

The first is seeing so called responsible adults resorting to the kind of behaviour that’s more appropriate in a kids playground. You can guess who I am referring to here, non other than the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson MP.

The other thing that gets up my nose? Seeing residents being used by an unscrupulous Ward Councillor (or Councillors even) as pawns in a political game as was witnessed yesterday at the Cabinet meeting in Walsall Council House.

On the Agenda was a report on the sale of Broadway North Centre as part of the budget savings which had been agreed by Walsall Council at a special meeting back in February.

Just before the Cabinet meeting was due to start, Paddock Ward Councillors brought into the room a number of local residents who use the building as part of Park Hall Community Association. Nothing wrong in that,they have a perfect right to be there to watch what happens. They could speak on the item if the correct procedure is followed and that should have been explained to the residents by their Ward Councillors.

The item was early on in the proceedings, the Leader of the Council who chairs the Cabinet meeting called on the Cabinet member for Regeneration to present the report and move the recommendations which included what the Council was doing with the property and why, that being the sale of the Broadway North building and grounds and that the property would not be put on the market until those organisations currently using it, including Park Hall Community Association, had been relocated .

The Cabinet member for Communities backed the recommendations saying that officers within Communities would be working with Park Hall Community Association to help find suitable alternative premises. There was no further debate nor was there any indication from the Paddock Ward Councillors that they wished to speak so a vote was taken and the recommendations agreed.

It was only after the vote that one of the Ward Councillors demanded to be heard whilst indicating that if she wasn’t allowed to speak there would be a lot of very angry residents, and at, that right on cue, the residents got very angry not realising that they were being manipulated by Ward Councillors. Things went down hill from there on in as accusations were made against Cabinet members as the Ward Councillors and residents filed out of the conference room.

Things could have and should have been different if the Ward Councillors had done their job properly. They knew that the building was only a temporary home for the Community Association. They had moved there from their previous home at Park Hall school back in 2013 after the school became an Academy. The move to the Broadway North Centre was on the basis of a peppercorn rent for 6 months whilst new premises were found. they have been there ever since.  The Coalition administration last night was only doing what the previous Conservative administration would have done had they been in control of the Council.

Further more if the Ward Councillors had briefed the residents properly, people  would have been able to speak at cabinet, but they chose to ignore the need to put in a request to the Council to do so. If one of them had approached the Chair before the meeting had started he would have probably agreed to let them speak. But no, they waited till a vote had been taken before reacting and whipping up the unsuspecting crowd. How cynical is that! And what positive action were they hoping for? The administration had already taken into account the concerns that had been expressed by agreeing to work with the Community Association in finding them suitable alternative accommodation.

No, I suspect that this was nothing more than theatrics by the Ward Councillors to look good in front of residents and catch the eye of the press who were conveniently at the meeting.

Even now at this late stage if these Councillors really had a properly worked through alternative plan they could use the Council’s Constitution to “Call In” the decision made by the Cabinet last night. That would give them a further chance to press home their plan (assuming that one actually exists) and persuade the Cabinet to change its decision.

It’s people like the Ward Councillors who whipped up the crowd that gets all politicians a bad name. People should recognise them for what they are and vote them out at the first opportunity.