Angela's got her voice back

I had been concerned recently that Gateshead Labour Councillor Angela Douglas had lost her voice. Angela is the Cabinet member whose portfolio covers leisure centres. She is therefore at the heart of the controversy about the proposed closures of Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre. Strangely enough, she has been rather quiet about the proposals. Yes, she moved the original report at Cabinet back in October which kicked off the consultation on proposed closures. But when I turned up for an interview with BBC Look North about the proposed closures, she was nowhere to be seen. The BBC told me that they had made repeated attempts to contact her but had not been able to elicit a response. Council Leader Martin Gannon had to do the interview instead.

Labour then held a public meeting in the autumn about the proposed closures and yet again, Cllr Douglas was absent. Martin was there however to fill the void.

In January, when her report came to cabinet, she had nothing to say. This is quite remarkable given the controversy and the partial shredding of the recommendations which had not gone down well the night before at the Labour group meeting. Poor Martin Gannon yet again had to pick up the reins on this at Cabinet.

So it was such a pleasure to hear Angela's voice again on Thursday at the Council's budget meeting. She didn't give a speech (despite much of the debate being about her portfolio) but she did shout at the Lib Dem group when Opposition Leader Ron Beadle called for a named vote on our budget amendment. And then outside the chamber, while the Lib Dem group were getting photos taken, she raised her voice giving her view loudly on her interpretation on what the Lib Dems had not voted for in the Budget meeting.

It's great to hear her vocal chords back in action. And I look forward to hearing her say something, indeed anything, on the issue that is so central to her portfolio.