You might be forgiven for thinking that Robin has been limited to shouting into a bucket over this time. But that is not so. And although the ruling parties in each council would never admit it of course... he has had impacts in many places, asked important questions which have led to change and on several occasions proposed policies which although initially resisted then magically become the way things should be done... In other words Cllr Robin Stuchbury punches way above his weight, speaking up for the many (not just the few) across all of the County and District.
It is my sincere hope that Robin is re-elected to the County Council come May 4th. Indeed, I probably want and hope for that more than success in my own election!
But allow me to evidence my assertions above. First let's turn to the County Council. Throughout his time in County Hall, Robin has participated in many scrutiny inquiries into services for children - as school students overall and children at risk of harm. Here is a list of some of those inquiries:
For example, Robin was an active member of the "Narrowing the Gap" investigation into the attainment gap between economically and socially disadvantaged pupils and their peers in Buckinghamshire. (I cannot seem to find the original report on the County website now - as the links to it appear to be broken both from here: the list of completed inquiries in the County Council and from the report linked above. Here is a link to the Cabinet response to the original report. But here is a link to copy that I dug out of old correspondence as it would seem the County have archived it now...)
Robin tells me that it often felt as if he was the only councillor (aside from the Chair of the committee) to have read the background papers before the meetings and was a key contributor to the discussions and questioning of the external contributors. I think the proceedings were filmed and stored, so this can be seen on the tapes.
Cllr Stuchbury has also being closely involved with:
- Young People Ready for Work
- Children's Internet Safety
- Child Sexual Exploitation
- Children’s Workforce Inquiry
- Voice of the Child and Young Person
Details of all these inquiries can be found here. In many cases, links to the whole original documents are not working. However Robin can send you the full reports if you wish.
By re-electing Robin and by electing me: the residents of North Bucks will benefit from having councillors who will question, who will challenge, who will scrutinise, who will research and who will oppose (on occasion) decisions made by the ruling group in the County Council - robustly, constructively and tirelessly.
