The much-loved Leader of the Isle of Wight council, Cllr David Pugh, has been taking news of his great success on the Isle of Wight all the way to America.
For those who wondered where our Leader was in a small part of November, Keith Eldridge pointed On The Wight to the yearly British American Project conference, this year held in New Orleans, where Cllr Pugh is listed as a delegate.
Creative Destruction
Creative Destruction was its theme.
The pre-event intro set the scene: “We will investigate how individuals, institutions, cities and societies can be pushed to the point of total destruction – only to bounce back bigger and better than ever before.”
David’s expertise
In David’s delegate details (which, as many who have spoken at conferences will know, are usually self-penned), includes:
He has overseen major transformational change, such as ceasing the direct provision of some services and enabling a community-led approach. He led the Island to become the first area to cease the direct provision of secondary education, moving to an academy / trust model.
‘The brink of extinction’
No doubt David was able to share the shining example his leadership has brought to the Isle of Wight and help the attendees understand questions posed at the conference, like:
- How can a city so close to the brink of extinction survive?
- Why did its people stay amidst such destruction and refuse to give in?
Not easy to get into
Reading around the subject, it’s clear that becoming a delegate is not an easy matter – selection, interview, strict criteria appear to apply. In fact BAP state, “competition for places is fierce.”
Nominees must be between 28-40 years old, “with a proven track record of achievement and high future potential.”
“The ability to take risks with ideas”, is the first item in the list describing what the selection committee is looking for.
The strange thing is that many feel that BAP was set up to persuade those on the left and of a liberal inclination that US foreign policy is a good thing. This is countered by BAP’s statement that it has, “no political, religious or other affiliations” – by David’s obvious Conservative affiliation.
Update 19:40: After publishing, we received this extra detail from David Pugh about the selection process – “I was nominated by the Local Government Association as a candidate to be considered for the 2012 BAP Conference. Following this nomination, I then applied to be a delegate, and following an interview by the UK Selection Committee, I was appointed as one of 22 British delegates to attend this year’s event in New Orleans.”
Expenses
This kind of trip can be a costly affair, even for a leader of the council with their £32k allowance/salary combination.
We’re not sure if David paid for the excursion himself, or if it was funded by the Isle of Wight council or externally. We wrote to him a short while before publishing to him to ask and will update you when we hear back.
Details received from David Pugh
Update 19:40 – The following details were received from David Pugh at about quarter past six
The trip was funded by the British American Project, an organisation which is supported by past delegates as donors and corporate sponsors. Details of corporate sponsors for the 2012 Conference can be found at the bottom of this page. I am not aware of the specific costs associated with the trip.
Zero cost to IW council
No cost whatsoever was incurred by the IW Council, as I was not attending on behalf of the local authority in any respect, but in an individual capacity – having applied to be delegate following nomination.
With regard to the issue of holiday, as I am not an employee of the IW Council I do not receive an annual leave entitlement – as I don’t have a contract of employment. However since being Council Leader I have had very few days off work – and that very modest amount of “holiday” taken would fall considerably short of what would be an annual leave entitlement for employees. In this case, I spent five working days away from the office to attend the conference. By just referring in your article to November, your article implies that it may have been longer. It was not. (Ed – Not our intention, but having re-read it after your comment, we’ve added ‘a small part of’ to clarify)
I stayed for the whole conference, and nothing more.
Image: Looking Glass under CC BY 2.0
Update 19:40 Added text received from David Pugh and added some clarification – that we wrote to him a short while before publishing (1.25 hours) and it wasn’t much of November he was away for.
