Award for distinguished Rugby councillor who has served county council for 30 years

A distinguished Rugby councillor was presented with an award for 30 years of service to Warwickshire County Council on Tuesday.

Councillor Jerry Roodhouse (Lib Dem, Eastlands), who leads his party’s group on the county and at Rugby Borough Council, received recognition during the annual meeting of full council at Shire Hall.

He first won the Rugby Eastlands seat in 1993, a gain for his party from the Conservatives at the time with almost 75 per cent of the vote in a two-horse race and he has become one of the go-to voices of reason for those of different political persuasions over the years.

Among his many appointments, Cllr Roodhouse sits on the council’s Children & Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Corporate Parenting Panel and Health and Wellbeing Board as well as working on the Local Government Association.

County leader Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Con, Stour & the Vale) led the way with the plaudits.

“It is a fantastic record and there are three words I would associate with Jerry – fairness, knowledge and friendship,” she said.

“We debate politics in this chamber but behind all our concerns and spikiness that sometimes that comes out, there is always a fairness and friendship and what we bring is that knowledge that you in particular have shown, especially in the world of health.

“You have contributed greatly to what has been a changing world over the past eight-to-10 years – ICSs, STPs, any other acronym you can think of – but it doesn’t change the nature of the beast we have to deal with. You have been fantastic in trying to guide us well on that.

“The times I have particularly valued have been those evenings at conferences where we have had a whisky and put right the wrongs or the issues of the day. We have argued politics, we have even argued religion, and in all of those things you get to know people.”

Cllr Roodhouse said: “It doesn’t seem like 30 years at all. It has gone by very quickly.

“All I can say is thank you, to the officers as well for the support they have given me and everyone else throughout all those years.

“I have seen chief executives come and go, I have seen leaders come and go, and cabinets, but the one overriding thing is about the spirit of Warwickshire and how the chamber works. That has been a joy.

“I was asked recently when I would pack up and I replied: ‘When I stop enjoying it.’ It is as simple as that, really.”

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