In an excruciating interview, a Reform councillor struggled to answer basic questions about his role and admitted that he did not know about his council’s relationship with a key partner.
Councillor James Walker-Gurley, a senior cabinet member at Nottinghamshire County Council, with cabinet responsibility for economic development and asset management, struggled to give his views, reading from a script and laughing when asked about issues pertaining to his role during an interview with Notts TV.
Like many of Reform’s elected members, when put under scrutiny, they begin to fall apart and don’t have much of a clue about how to solve problems. Soundbites and slogans only go so far.
Despite his brief covering the delivery of major infrastructure projects, councillor Walker-Gurley struggled to give an answer when asked about one of those major projects – the scheme to upgrade the Ollerton Roundabout and the wider A614/A6097 corridor.
He also struggled to set out what the future relationship between Nottinghamshire County Council and East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) would look like. The EMCCA is a key partner for the council and Walker-Gurley would have to work closely with it in order deliver his economic priorities.
During the interview, he was asked: “How do you see the relationship with EMCCA moving forward?”
A laughing Walker-Gurley replied: “I don’t know what to say to that…yeah working closely with them.” He then said he had ‘no idea’ how the relationship would work moving forward, before admitting he had ‘not met anyone from EMCCA yet’.
He was then asked by the local democracy reporter what the key priorities are for Nottinghamshire, to which he highlighted major highways schemes including the A614/A6097 major road network scheme.
Asked which scheme he thought would be a major priority for residents, Walker-Gurley answered: “Ollerton Roundabout for sure.” He was then asked why, to which the cabinet member starts laughing before saying: “I don’t know, it just needs fixing.”
Picture credit: (NottsTV)
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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