Sir Ron Watson CBE (Con, Sefton), 80, has been a councillor since 1969 and helped establish the LGA
Why did you become a councillor?
I’d always been interested in local government, but at a national level. You get a lot of councillors who are focused entirely on their local patch, but what happens nationally is critically important to what we do locally.
How were you involved in setting up the LGA?
I was Sefton’s council leader, which I enjoyed. I lost my seat (and leadership position) in 1991 and, when I came back, I started to take an interest in the Association of Metropolitan Authorities (AMA), becoming its Conservative group leader. I was one of those, from all parties, who felt that having three organisations representing local government didn’t work well because the government – any government – plays one off against the other.
We put a lot of work into persuading people and, after a relatively short time, they began to realise that the ‘voice of local government’, as represented by the LGA, was a pretty good thing.
What’s your proudest achievement?
When I was chairman of housing on both Southport County Borough Council and Sefton Council, I felt more municipal housing was required in Southport. We had identified a suitable site for about 300 homes, but the local government department kept turning the scheme down, often on cost considerations.
The then Secretary of State (SoS) had issued a circular saying that, if private housing estates in your area had not been sold, they could be bought by the council and used as council housing. I took the view that if you could buy these houses, why couldn’t you build them in the first place, using standard private sector design and procedures? It would save 20 per cent, and they could be built in half the time of council houses.
In a ‘Yes Minister’ moment, the SoS asked his senior official whether this was correct. He said it was perfectly feasible, but they didn’t have a form and a process for the costs being considerably less than the allowable figure – there wasn’t the form to cover this eventuality! The SoS did give his permission, the houses were built in record time, and the tenants were delighted.
At the other end of the borough, a site suitable for about 30 homes became available and officers produced plans for a small council housing development. I put forward a scheme to introduce a ‘bill for sale’. Officers and councillors said this was a daft idea, as no-one in this area would be interested in home ownership. However, the scheme went forward and the houses sold out within minutes – indicating a huge unmet demand for home ownership in the area.
These two initiatives proved to me that the hopes and aspirations of most people we deal with are actually very similar.
What have you enjoyed about being in local government?
The variety, but also the interrelationships. I spent a period with the Improvement and Development Agency, doing peer reviews and mentoring sessions with political groups and individual councillors; had a fair number of non-executive positions on health authorities; served on the boards of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and of Standards Board for England; and spent 12 years on the Ministry of Justice Mental Health Tribunal Service. I’ve been in a better position to make decisions in all of the things I’ve done partly based on what I’ve learned in the other areas.
How do you relax in your spare time?
I am a keen classic, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and blues fan, and have a substantial and varied music collection, including a rare 45 by the Beatles. I saw them about 100 times – I used to go to the Cavern Club in Liverpool during my lunch breaks.