Tory retreat into Guildhall bunker gathers pace

1.28.18pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 21st Jun 2007

The new Conservative administration moved last night to prevent opposition Councillors and residents from participating in public meetings of the Council's Cabinet.

Cllr Haeberling started by giving opposition Councillors a telling-off for having tabled 25 questions to Cabinet members, branding them "a waste of time". The Leader then announced that Councillors would each be permitted only two supplementary questions in total, rather than the previous system which allowed one per question tabled. When the Cabinet discussed the other agenda items the Leader refused to allow any non-executive members the opportunity to speak and all the items were all passed with little or no comment. The meeting ended after a mere 44 minutes.

Cllr Paul Crossley (Liberal Democrat, Southdown) commented:

"The Conservatives have been in minority control of the Council for only 6 weeks, yet in that time they have slashed democracy, openness and accountability. They are systematically getting rid of opportunities for the public and Councillors to engage in debate and hold them to account. It seems they are seeking to concentrate power into the hands of six Cabinet members making decisions behind closed doors.

"This just goes to show that, despite David Cameron's soft words about localism and accountability, when the Conservatives get hold of power their actions are the complete opposite.

"However the Conservatives are making a mistake if they think they can hide from the people of Bath and North East Somerset. Democracy implies openness and accountability and we will continue to hold the executive to account at every opportunity."

Cllr Cherry Beath (Liberal Democrat, Combe Down), who also attended the Cabinet meeting, added:

"Before I was elected I attended a few Executive meetings and was always impressed by the inclusive nature of debate. It was a shock to see that the Conservatives seem to be turning it into a rubber stamp exercise. I was very concerned by Cllr Haeberling's comment that she plans to remove Councillor questions from the Cabinet meetings and I call on her to reconsider."