South Wales Evening Post - 24 June 2006
Turncoat councillor Rene Kinzett has launched a scathing attack on his former colleagues running Swansea Council.
The Lib Dem turned Tory councillor rounded on the current coalition over their alleged handling of a number of high-profile problems such as Swansea Leisure Centre, Service@Swansea and school reorganisation. He also says he has become increasingly frustrated by what he calls "a string of bad decisions" by cabinet members.
The Mayals ward councillor said: "The joint administration can't keep going through the next two years leading up to the local elections by claiming that 'at least we are not as bad as the previous lot'.
"I agree, it is much better to have a non-Labour administration in charge of Swansea, but we could at least put more effort into avoiding the obvious mistakes of the past regime - otherwise people will start to find it hard to tell the difference between us and them."
Councillor Kinzett hit back after claims he had been dumped as coalition spokesman following his surprise switch from the Lib Dems to Conservative.
The move has not changed the balance of power in Swansea as both parties are part of the coalition but Councillor Kinzett has shown the Post an email dated May 3 showing him standing down from his role as coalition spokesman.
He claimed: "I was growing ever more frustrated by the string of bad or poorly made decisions by cabinet members. I was only ever called upon to sort out messes left behind as a result of sloppy thinking.
"The administration also never seems to learn the lessons of the myriad of mistakes made under years of Labour misrule in our city. We rightly criticise Labour for failing to properly budget the fit out of the Liberty Stadium, but then we allow the budget for the leisure centre to rocket by £7 million for exactly the same lack of forward thinking."
Councillor Kinzett has also criticised his former colleagues for their handling of the controversial Service@Swansea project and conflicting budget reports coming from County Hall. He also attacked the way the schools reorganisation was handled. It saw parents challenge and defeat plans to close Dylan Thomas Community School and move the pupils to Bishop Gore. Councillor Kinzett said: "When public consultation is necessary, such as over schools reorganisation, there appears to the same lack of thought and planning applied to the matter.
"Cabinet members try to keep ahead of issues like schools reorganisation, but the advice from officers is at best variable and hardly ever timely."
Lib Dem Councillor Peter Black said: "I am astonished that Rene has sought to attack the administration, including his new Conservative colleagues, when he was a party to all these decisions and shared collective responsibility for them.
"He also remains a member of an administration which he purports to have lost confidence in.
"I do not accept the criticisms that Rene makes of the way that the council and the group operates. We will be judged on what we have achieved at the end of a full four-year term.
"I am confident that those achievements will be substantial despite the inevitable setbacks, the occasional mistake and the steep learning curve that we have all climbed over the last two years."
