WOODLEY’s council is not being run secretly, says its leader.
He was responding to claims made by Lib Dem town council group leader Cllr Carol Jewell, who alleges that since the pandemic, some decisions are being held in secret and the council can operate without public scrutiny or councillors being made aware of decisions made.
Since March, like many councils, meetings have been held regularly among senior leaders and politicians, a process in Woodley called the Urgency Committee. There are four councillors on this and the Lib Dems argue that they are making “important financial decisions with consulting the council.
Cllr Jewell said: “We have been strongly objecting to the Urgency Committee making decisions outside of the normal committee process, which has meant that facts are being hidden from councillors,” she said.
“It completely excludes the public and the Labour representatives on the council. This is an afront to democracy.”
She added that the Lib Dems wanted to see more transparency in the process but said that its proposals were voted down without discussion.
But Cllr Keith Baker, who leads the council, said at the early stages of the pandemic the council had agreed to the Urgency Committee’s launch and its makeup comprised himself, the leader of the opposition and chairman from three sub-committees. The committee made recommendations which then go back to the relevant committee and then on to the council itself.
“The leader of the opposition is there so that she can communicate with her councillors about what’s going on,” he said. “Clearly a lot of the information discussed is confidential. When something needed to be in the public domain, the Urgency Committee made a recommendation, which they did.
“What I’m talking about here is we’re the only council, town or borough, to ask every one of our residents about increases in council tax next year. Sending the card to every household – nearly 11,000 of them in Woodley – is hardly being secret.
“And we have had a phenomenal response.”
He added that agendas for the three committees and full council were in the public domain. “I don’t see how that can be classified as being secret,” he said.
“This is purely a political stunt. They want to make mischief and they do it by not telling the population of Woodley the full story.”
