I thought that you might like to read the first speech by my friend and colleague Councillor Ruth Dombey, the new Leader of Sutton Council.


Ruth made this speech to the Sutton Partnership Conference yesterday. It wasn't written for her, she wrote it herself and it is her thoughts about where we are, how proud we should all be of our borough and our achievements and how we can keep Sutton a special place by working together. 

"Welcome everyone, welcome to this meeting of the Sutton Partnership. To those of you I've known for many years and those of you who I'm looking forward to meeting very soon, thank you all for coming along this afternoon.

It’s a huge privilege to be the new Leader of Sutton, to do a job that can make such a difference and to serve the community where I live with my family. This is a wonderful borough to live, work and bring up a family and I know that we are all determined to work hard to ensure that it develops, prospers and offers everyone the opportunity to achieve their potential.

I’m hugely excited by my new role but I’ve also got my feet very firmly on the ground. I know there are huge challenges and money is tight – but I really do believe that the talent, enthusiasm and determination of all the people here today means that we can be confident as we look forward.

I know it won’t be easy. When I said to my Mum that I had been chosen to succeed Sean as the next Leader, she looked me straight in the eye and said, “You mean everything will be your fault from now on?” And that’s an important part of the role – someone ultimately has to take responsibility for what’s happening, good and bad. That’s why partnership working, team working is so important. Because we are better, stronger and more successful when we work as a team, when we harness our different skills and interests and draw on our different experiences.

Sutton is a very special place. It has a special way of doing things. And I don’t want to change that. People genuinely care about their local area. They have strong attachments to their local district or village. They mind when the High Street doesn’t turn out the way they had hoped. They care when the parks and streets don’t look properly cared for.

I wouldn’t want it any other way.

And Sutton politicians, and community leaders and public servants genuinely want to raise standards and make improvements. We have been working in partnership for many years now – and we know it works. We don’t always agree – but we sort out our differences, we talk them through and we find solutions that work. Building a community where all can take part and all can take pride. We coined that phrase over 20 years ago – it’s just as relevant today.

We don’t make a great deal of noise about Sutton and we tend to be quite modest about our achievements. But I really do think that over the last twenty years or so Sutton has quietly and consistently become one of the best places to live and work in the South East. We’re close to Central London and close to the Surrey countryside. We have lovely parks, excellent schools, first class libraries, low crime rates, a strong sense of community, low unemployment, a high percentage of young people in education, training or employment, some lovely heritage buildings and thriving district centres.

We haven’t achieved all this by chance. It’s taken a lot of hard work and some very exceptional people to get us where we are today. And we’ve been incredibly lucky to have had someone like Sean Brennan leading the Council for the last ten years. You all know Sean, his integrity, his warmth and his strong sense of justice. He is a real gentleman and I consider myself very lucky to have worked so closely with him for the last 6 years. Sean is respected by everyone I meet and he has left this Council and this borough with strong foundations for a successful future. I know we are all very grateful.

Last year was a difficult year. We witnessed riots uncomfortably close to home. Household budgets are being squeezed and families are worried about keeping their jobs and paying their bills. There are fears about the future of the banks and the Euro and government ministers continue to demand that local government makes huge cuts and efficiencies. Though it might be nice if central government took on some of the burden too! I'm told local government is making 28% cuts compared to 4% from central government. Might be an idea to even it up a bit! I can't wait to meet Eric Pickles.

The council faces increasing challenges. Demand for services is increasing while our income falls. A rising birth rate is putting huge pressure on our schools. We need to do better - much better - at safeguarding our vulnerable children. An ageing population is putting more pressure on social care. So standing still isn’t an option. Councils that do that will simply run out of money and have to slash services with no regard for the impact on their residents, with no regard for health, welfare and social inequalities. That is not going to happen in this Borough, not on my watch.

We know from the Council borough wide survey that people like living in this Borough and they have confidence in us as a Council. They also have high expectations of us, of the Council and the services we provide. And that's fine - it keeps us on our toes and reminds us that we are public servants, here to serve the residents of Sutton.

So let's be honest - we don't always get it right. We haven't always managed our major projects as well as we should. Generally our services are well managed - but then we trip up over the details, we don't explain what we're doing properly, we don't feed back and address people's genuine concerns, we look and sound out of touch and bureaucratic. This has to stop.

Some of our council letters and communications are just awful. You need an honours degree in gibberish to understand some of them. They are too long, too technical, full of jargon. They're written for council officers, not the general public. That has to stop.

I'm ambitious for Sutton, even in tough times. At the very moment when money is tight and resources are scarce, I want to take a new look at how we prioritise our services. I want a grown up, open and honest dialogue with our citizens. We need to stop pretending we can do everything for everyone - that's just not possible any more.

And ultimately that was never the Sutton Way – at the heart of which is the belief that local people know best and must be empowered to take decisions, and shape their neighbourhoods, themselves. When tough decisions need to be made it is vital that the priorities are being set by our residents. When resources are tight it is vital that we are not letting the pride and enthusiasm of our residents go to waste. In times of austerity, Localism is not a luxury but a necessity.

I’m talking about real Localism: about trusting people, relinquishing power, and challenging the tendency in this, the most centralised country in the Western world, to concentrate power in the hands of a few. So when we talk about Shaping our Neighbourhoods we aren’t talking about another grand design imposed from above. It's about the people who live and work in those places, the people who care about the grass verges and the parks, the traffic and the litter, the schools and the shops. The people who want their kids to have every opportunity in life, good schools and good jobs, safe streets and fun things to do. The people who rant and rail and then roll up their sleeves and get on with it.

The challenge facing the Council, and many of your organisations too, is the one that we will be tackling at this workshop today: how do we provide our residents, our citizens with the opportunities to shape their neighbourhoods, how do we empower them and by so doing unleash their pride and enthusiasm to the benefit of the whole borough?

Part of the answer has to be devolving greater powers and bigger budgets to our Local Committees, so that more and more decisions are made at the level that is closest to our residents. It also means making sure that people are more involved in the design and delivery of the local public services that they use. This is a chance to draw on the pride that Sutton people have in their local area, to utilise the skills, interests and experience of our residents to make our services, and our borough, even better. How to achieve this is the question we have set ourselves this afternoon. How can the Council change the way it designs and delivers its services? Is there potential for voluntary organisations and community groups to play an even bigger role as the bodies through which local people are able to shape their neighbourhoods?

These are complicated questions and might require solutions that are equally complicated, messy and unpredictable. Solutions might differ from place to place, but then Sutton is already like a patchwork quilt of villages and district centres, each one unique with its own set of strengths and problems. I want to celebrate this diversity, and build on it as a source of local pride.

Pride and participation are key ingredients in creating a better borough for our residents, a borough made up of thriving district centres with the right mix of jobs, school places, green spaces, play areas, post offices, libraries and places to meet. But there are other ingredients too, not least the need for local growth, local prosperity and local jobs. Traditionally this has been considered the realm of national government - and of course Westminster has an important role to play. But local government, local councils can make a real difference.

Think about our Borough. We have excellent schools and a skilled workforce. We have key transport links. We have identified sites that are ripe for development. We have low crime, strong community cohesion, a thriving voluntary sector.

Now we need to capitalise on our assets and open our doors to business. We want to welcome entrepreneurs and remove the barriers to enterprise. We can build on our strong environmental reputation and become a magnet for green enterprise and green business. This sector of the economy is growing faster than any other, creating new jobs and promoting sustainable solutions to modern problems. If we can attract this investment, harness this energy and enthusiasm and develop a green hub in Southwest London, we can back long term sustainable growth which will benefit the entire community.

I want every part of our organisation and our partners to re-examine how we can contribute to growth, jobs and skills. I want us to work together so that all our residents are able to access the right training, skills and apprenticeships. I want local businesses to thrive here, offering local jobs to local people. I want them to feel part of the community, to be proud of working in Sutton, to make a difference to their local area. I want to realise the ambition of a sustainable, dynamic suburb, not a sleepy, sluggish suburb.

So in conclusion, shaping our neighbourhoods and building strong communities is not just the Council's business, it's everyone's business. We are already well placed to make this happen - but there is a lot more we can do and we must do. I want us to take the best of what we have already, learn from our mistakes and inject a new sense of purpose into  delivering real localism, creating jobs and encouraging a sense of pride in the place where we live.

I don't have all the answers because this can't be done alone. It needs your help, your energy, your ideas. So for the next three months I'll be in listening mode. I want to hear your views and ideas. I want to hear from you what will work and what won't. I want you to tell me what's important and what isn't. I want you to help me make this a reality – starting this afternoon.

Thank you very much for listening - and thank you for all you do to make Sutton such a glorious and exciting place with such huge potential for the future."