Redman stays as leader in city's new cabinet

As part of local government reorganisation, which is taking place nationwide, the old committee system is being replaced by a leader and executive board, which is supported by scrutiny committees and five new area committees.

The first meeting of the executive board took place on October 17.

There are four Liberal Democrat councillors, four Labour councillors and two Green councillors. The Liberal Democrat-Green alliance, which currently runs the council, will continue, with Liberal Democrat Mrs Corinna Redman remaining leader of the council and Mr Paul Ingram, from the Green group, her deputy.

Councillors have decided that there should be no increase in allowance for those who are not members of the Executive Board.

However, the ten members of the board will receive an increase in their allowance, which will reflect increased responsibility.

The total annual cost of councillors' allowances is rising by £29,069 from £172,629 to £201,698.

The executive board members are: Corinna Redman (Lib Dem), David Connett (Lib Dem), Jim Campbell (Lib Dem), John Goddard (Lib Dem), Alex Hollingsworth (Lab), Bill Baker (Lab), Colin Cook (Lab), Val Smith (Lab), Paul Ingram (Green), Mike Woodin (Green).

The Liberal Democrat and Green members of the executive will be awarded a portfolio of responsibility, and will be shadowed by the Labour members.

The board will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the council.

However, policy and budget decisions will still ultimately be decided by a full council of 51 members.

If the executive board makes a controversial decision, then a scrutiny committee could refer it to full council.

Mr Alex Hollingsworth, leader of the Labour group, said the four Labour members of the board were selected in a vote by the group.

Liberal Democrat, Mr Jock Coats, added: "We arrived at our decision in a slightly different way.

"Those elected to the executive board have been chosen so that they can head up certain portfolios."

At the strategy and resources committee, it emerged that the Independent Renumeration Panel had recommended that annual allowances for 51 councillors should be increased from £3,127 to £4,555.

But councillors decided that they should not award themselves an increase in the current financial climate.

However, the ten executive board members will be paid more than their non-executive board counterparts because they have greater responsibility than before.

The leader of the council, Mrs Corinna Redman, will be paid £9,381.

In the past, the highest-paid post was the chairman of the strategy and resources committee, which Mrs Redman held, and she was being paid £4,252.

The deputy leader, Mr Paul Ingram, will receive £7,818, portfolio holders will get £6,254 and non-portfolio holders £4,691.

The chairmen of overview and scrutiny committees will get £4,691, together with the chairmen of five area committees.

In May, the number of councillors will decrease from 51 to 48 because of ward boundary changes. The number of area committees will increase from five to six. Mrs Corinna Redman will remain leader of the Council, and will continue to head the ruling Liberal Democrat-Green alliance.

A Classics graduate of Somerville College, she worked as a copy editor for Oxford University Press for three years

Her husband Christopher is a professor in obstetric medicine at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

A mother of five children, Mrs Redman has brought up four boys and one girl.

Mrs Redman has been an active member of the Liberal Party since 1987. She became a Liberal Democrat councillor for the North ward in 1994 and became group leader in 1996.

She has sat on planning and housing committees and became leader of the council last year. Since May 2000, she has also chaired the strategy and resources committee.

Mr Colin Cook, 37, was elected as a Labour councillor for West ward in 1999.

He has been an active member of the Labour Party for ten years and has been a member of the planning committee, and deputy group spokesman on planning issues.

Mr Cook's partner Ms Sandra Harvey is a law lecturer at the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice.

Now working as a medical research technician at Oxford University, Mr Cook is a biochemistry graduate of Hertford College.

Mr Cook's role, as one of four Labour members of the executive, will be to shadow Mr John Goddard, portfolio holder for planning, transport and crime.

He has recently moved from Park End Street to Riverside Road in Jericho, and as ward councillor set up the St Thomas's Residents' Association.

Mr John Goddard, 65, was a founder member of the Social Democrat Party in the 1980s, and became a Liberal Democrat councillor for the Wolvercote ward in 1998.

For the past year-and-a-half, he has chaired the planning committee.

He has also been a member of the strategy and resources, health and environment, audit and civic and property sub-committees.

Mr Goddard lives in Blandford Avenue, North Oxford, and is married to Muriel, a painter.

Before he retired, he was a headmaster of a school in Plymouth, and also worked for the Home Office for 18 years.

Mr Goddard completed his working life in the House of Lords, where he was a clerk specialising in European legislation.

Mr Goddard will hold the portfolio for planning, transport and crime reduction.

Mr Paul Ingram, 33, was first elected for the Central ward in 1996.

He is a graduate in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Hertford College, and since 1990 has worked as a researcher for the Rowntrees-funded Oxford Research Group.

He has also worked as Warden of the Quaker Meeting House in St Giles. It was through the Quaker religion that he met Ms Emily Miles, who works as a Private Secretary to Home Secretary David Blunkett. They married on July 28.

Mr Ingram will take the job of Deputy Leader to Corinna Redman in the continuing Lib Dem-Green alliance, but will vote with Labour on an issue-by-issue basis if necessary.

He was keen on doubling park-and-ride parking charges, but the policy proved unacceptable. Dr Mike Woodin became a Green city councillor for Central Ward in 1994.

He handed over the post of group leader to Mr Paul Ingram after taking the national post of principal speaker for the Green Party. He has just retired from that post.

Dr Woodin has been a lecturer in psychology at Balliol College since 1990, and was a graduate student at Wolfson College after completing a degree in psychology at Manchester University.

He is married to fellow Green city councillor Ms Deborah Glass. The couple have a daughter Talia, aged two, and are expecting a boy in January. He will be responsible for the environment and health portfolio. He will continue to form part of the ruling Lib Dem-Green alliance, but says he will vote with Labour if the issue demands it.

Mr Bill Baker, 66, joined the Labour Party in 1963, and became a Labour city councillor in 1986.

He has chaired economic and development, city works and personnel committees and is a former leader of the council.

Mr Baker worked as a coordinator in the car parks for Rover for 28 years, then as a groundsman for Mansfield Road Social Club.

Married to Vicky, they now live in Meadow Lane, Donnington, Oxford. Mr Baker retired from his job as a groundsman last year and said this would give him more time to concentrate on his role in the executive, where he will shadow the best value and community affairs portfolio. Mr David Connett, 47, became a city councillor for Cherwell ward in 1996, and has chaired the housing committee since last year.

He lives in Bicester with his wife of 27 years, Leigh, and the couple have a grown-up daughter.

Mr Connett arrived in Oxfordshire in 1986 after leaving the RAF and has been a Liberal Democrat for the past eight years.

His role in the executive will be taking charge of the portfolio for housing and community health.

He is currently managing director of a publishing firm called The Recycler Limited, which is based in Witney.

The company publishes magazines about recycling. Mr Jim Campbell, 62, has been a member of the Liberal Party for more than 20 years, and has represented the Wolvercote ward as a Liberal Democrat since 1995.

He has been chairman of the leisure committee and has set up Oxford International Links, which is the umbrella organisation for the city's twin town associations.

Mr Campbell lives in Frenchay Road, off Woodstock Road, and he is married with a grown-up son and daughter.

Mr Campbell is currently working as a history and politics teacher at the Oxford University department of continuing education.

Mr Campbell will be given the portfolio for culture, sport and tourism.

Mrs Val Smith has been a member of the Labour Party for 25 years, and has represented the Blackbird Leys ward as a city councillor for 14 years.

She has chaired the housing committee, and for many years, she was the chairman of the Blackbird Leys development committee, and the estates committee.

Mrs Smith, who lives in Flaxfield Road, Blackbird Leys, was the Millennium Mayor and she has also been the Sheriff of Oxford.

She is married to the Oxford East MP, Mr Andrew Smith, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Mrs Smith's role on the executive will be to shadow the man who is in charge of the housing portfolio, Mr David Connett.

Mr Alex Hollingsworth, 32, has been a Labour councillor for Headington ward since 1994. He took over as leader of the city council's Labour group when it lost control of the council in May last year.

He has been a member of the Labour Party for 14 years, and in 1997, he was Labour Parliamentary candidate in the Witney constituency, where he lost to Mr Shaun Woodward. His partner is fellow Labour councillor Ms Susan Brown, and they have a daughter.

Mr Hollingsworth, of Richmond Road, Oxford, said he would have a "non-portfolio" role in the executive, and will monitor decisions in his role as opposition leader. He works as a commissioning editor for Reed Elsevier.