First Environment meeting was pointless say Lib Dems (Swindon Liberal Democrats)

Swindon Liberal Democrats <info@swindonlibdems.org>

First Environment meeting was pointless say Lib Dems

June 30, 2005 5:39 PM

Swindon Tories ban public, media and opposition councillors from meetings

Liberal Democrats have labelled the new Council Committee meetings as dull, pointless and a waste of everybody's time. The first meeting of the Environment & Leisure Overview Committee was held on Tuesday 28th June but only made one decision and that was to agree the venue and set an agenda for the next meeting in three months time.

Elected councillor's powers to discuss important issues have been quashed since the Conservatives re-launched the Council's decision-making process on the 9th June. Now secret Advisory Meetings of Directors, Tory Cabinet members and Tory backbench councillors will discuss important issues of the day with no consultation with Labour or Liberal Democrat councillors."

Liberal Democrat Environment and Leisure spokesperson, Cllr Stan Pajak (Eastcott) said after the meeting:

"Council meetings are now officially boring, dull and a waste of time. In the interests of democracy I hope things change, but at the moment you may as well stay at home.

"We are now living in an age of the Secret Society in Swindon. The media are banned from the meetings, along with opposition councillors. No agendas will be published and no minutes will be recorded. What we have now in Swindon is an elected dictatorship who is accountable to nobody. Conservatives on the council can do as they please, and nobody will know what they are doing.

"At a time when people should be encouraged to get involved in making Swindon a fantastic place to live and a community to be proud of, the people who run the council have drawn the curtains and locked the doors."

"A Labour councillor sitting next to me in the meeting asked 'why are we here?'

"Given the choice between attending such a meeting again, or staying at home to wash my hair… reach for the Head and Shoulders is the obvious conclusion."

The first of these secret Conservative meetings will be held next week, with Partnerships & Performance being discussed on Tuesday 5th July; Procurement will be discussed on Wednesday 6th July with Finance & Resources the subject of discussion on Thursday 7th July.

The meeting of the Environment & Leisure Committee was due to agree a timetable for the year with proposals to discuss the following:

New Swindon Company plans to rejuvenate the Town Centre
2006 design codes for attention to detail of quality for house builders in the Borough and retail shop fronts
Finding a new home to exhibit Swindon's modern Art Collection and to re-house the museum collections
Landscape restoration of Shaw Forest and a review of the 30-year vision for the Great Western Community Forest
Establishing a new Central Library by 2008 with flexible opening hours

The committee did agree that a West Swindon Tory councillor would be responsible for Wheelie Bins.

The cabinet member for Leisure would attend the next meeting at the end of September to inform the committee of his engagements over the summer.