WHAT a difference a year makes – a year ago today Dorset councillors were celebrating the formation of the new unitary authority.

Today it has more than 2,000 of its staff working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic and most of its offices are closed to casual visitors although council staff can be contacted by phone and email.

Council leader Spencer Flower, following the elections in May last year when his Conservative group took power, described the new authority as ‘a can do’ council.

During the year the authority has overspent its budget by more than £16 million, the Conservatives say because of unforeseen demand, mainly on social services – although the Liberal Democrat opposition says the ruling party set an unrealistic budget to begin with.

The year has also seen the maximum council tax increase possible of just under 4 per cent making Dorset one of the most expensive in the country, its citizens paying almost double for council services, compared to some London boroughs.

The authority has also lost jobs although it has always declined to say how many with the process still continuing. An estimate from financial advisers prior to the start of the process put the likely figure at around 200.

One of the council’s early commitments was to sign up to a climate and ecological emergency, promising a wide-reaching programme to reduce its carbon footprint. Extinction Rebellion, which was instrumental in pushing through that commitment, say the people of Dorset are still waiting for those proposals. Dorset Council say they have been working on it ‘at pace’, until the recent pandemic halted work.

The council has slimmed down the number of councillors the rural county previously had – down from more than 170 to 82. This alone is estimated to result in a saving of £400,000 a year in allowances and expenses.

Each of the new councillors is paid a basic allowance of £13,000 a year with additional payments for those who are chair or vice chairs of committees, or who sit on the council's executive cabinet.  The council leader, Spencer Flower, from Verwood, receives an allowance of £35,000 a year.

Out of the 82 seats for election on May 2, 25 were won by new councillors who were not members of the Shadow Dorset Council (comprised of all six previous authorities) and 57 seats were won by members who have previously served as a councillor in Dorset. There are 27 women on the new council and 55 men, women making up a third of the new council. Despite this only one of the ten Cabinet seats, all of which are Conservatives, has gone to a woman.

Conservatives hold the balance of power on the council by a margin of four seats.

Each of the ten Cabinet members get an allowance of £22,000 a year, plus expenses.

The Cabinet members are -

Leader / Governance, Performance and Communications - Cllr Spencer Flower

Deputy Leader / Corporate Development and Change - Cllr Peter Wharf

Finance, Commercial and Assets - Cllr Tony Ferrari

Housing - Cllr Graham Carr-Jones

Economic Growth and Skills - Cllr Gary Suttle

Children, Education and Early Help - Cllr Andrew Parry

Adult Social Care and Health - Cllr Laura Miller

Planning - Cllr David Walsh

Highways, Travel and Environment - Cllr Ray Bryan

Customer, Community and Regulatory Services - Cllr Tony Alford