Local Tories seek to suppress local accountability

The Tories have attempted to limit the opportunity of opposition Councillors to Call In Council Cabinet decisions by requiring the Councillor seeking the Call In to have a meeting with Council Officers, the Leader of the Council and the relevant Portfolio Holder before allowing decisions to be called in. As decisions can only be called in within 5 days that severely restricts the ability of the Councillor seeking to make a Call In.

Decisions that go before Cabinet have nearly always gone before Council Committee's, panels, and working groups before they get to Council. Those meetings are dominated by the current Tory majority who always follow the 'party line' so the Call In process is the only process that can be used to highlight the issues and concerns of Councillors reflecting residents concern.

The Call In that triggered this restriction was the Market Review Call In made by Cllr Chappell and discussed on Overview and Scrutiny on 18th January. That Call In established that the Council could not make any change to the nature and character of the Market without requiring an Act of Parliament. That there was no scope for increasing the number of stalls, as the area used by the market had reached full capacity, and that most stalls were in regular use with few left empty. It was also established that Council Officers knew of no means of cutting the costs of running the market and no savings could be made. Appointing an external body to run the market would only lead to existing staff being transferred to the new body at the same salary and terms of employment.

Rather than accept the decision of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee that sufficient matters had been raised to refer the decision back to Cabinet for further consideration, at the next Cabinet they simply went ahead and appointed a consultant anyway.