OFF THE RECORD: GORDON NORMAN

CRUMBRIA: 24/02/2026: COLUMN #1

Writing a new column exclusively for The Cumbria Chronic, veteran council journalist Gordon Norman scythes through Local Government spin – taking no prisoners in pursuit of truth and accountability.

Following previous correspondence, his coverage is confined strictly to what was said in the meeting, which helps keep things straightforward.

Exclusive by Gordon Norman

Basically, I was the only member of the Press present in the Council chamber when the agenda item came up.

Let’s just say it must have been important because Newsdesk told me that I had to stop focusing on planning applications and actually go to the meeting instead.

I can exclusively reveal that the latest Council meeting follows on from an earlier Council meeting, which broadly went over the same old ground.

The meeting heard that there had been “a lot” of discussion about the subject at hand, although further discussion would probably be required before anything could be properly discussed going forward.

To be honest, it had that feel about it.

The Council leader said he was “very happy” with all the “great work” the Council has done so far on this subject, which kind of settled it for me.

The Council’s Director of Corporate Stability, Assurance and Reliability gave a presentation consisting of 25 slides. But they were too far away for me to see, which I took to mean they were only for councillors.

Overall, I have to say, her presentation was stable, assured and reliable.

At the end, she sat down in her chair and told the meeting that the “direction of travel is very clear”, although the specific destination wasn’t discussed.

Opposition councillor, Martin Keen, then got out of his chair to put his hand in the air and raise an objection. He has a habit of doing that right before they finish for lunchtime.

The Chairperson intervened to remind him that discussing how the Council spends public money at a public meeting was not the “appropriate forum,” which, on balance, is hard to disagree with.

Cllr Keen referred to some Council figures that, according to him, “don’t make any sense whatsoever in any shape or form”, but it looked like no one knew what he was on about, which, I must say, happens quite a lot.

I haven’t seen the figures to be honest, and nobody had left them where the Press sit, so I don’t know what was going on there.

I thought about asking him afterwards, but by then I had already put the top back on my pen, which tends to mean I’m calling it a day.

Anyway, I noticed Councillor Keen was engaged in intense discussions with the Council Leader. They appeared to have some kind of accidental contact with each other at head height, although it looked like it was all being handled.

It just didn’t feel appropriate to interrupt all the paramedics.

Afterwards, a source of mine rang me up. She always provides me with a lot of information about what’s going on.

I asked her what had happened to the coffee in the town hall this morning, as it definitely didn’t taste right to me.

For the purposes of this column, I will have to refer to her as Sore Throat.

Sore Throat said she didn’t know what happened with the coffee, but she’ll look into it. She clarified that, as far as the meeting was concerned, the Council’s governance arrangements are “robust” and that there is nothing for anyone to worry about.

Apparently, all the relevant documents are going to be circulated in due course through the appropriate channels, so there’s no need to get into that at this stage.

The Council is doing exactly what it said it was going to do, according to her, albeit very differently and a lot more expensively, which seems fair enough.

Like I said, I’m not even sure this whole issue is much of a story anymore, and if it is, it’s probably one for later.

There’s a meeting next week where the Council will consider approving the new approval.

Sore Throat said the Leader of the Opposition is expected to attend, providing he’s out of the hospital.

Depending on what other stories I’ve got on, I might even go along to bring you even more on what the Council’s been up to.

But I’m not promising. These issues tend to have a habit of resolving themselves, in my experience.