Fears raised by former mayor as ‘conscience role removed’
CHESHIRE East has been accused of trying to remove the ‘lifeline’ which allowed its former mayor to go public about her concerns over the way the council was operating, councillors have been told.
Councillor Hilda Gaddum, who was the first to publicly reveal concerns in 2015 over the awarding of some council contracts, was able to speak out at the time because, as the then mayor, she was the ‘conscience of the council’.
Her interview with the BBC was followed shortly afterwards by a police announcement that a criminal investigation was being launched.
Now, Coun Gaddum has pointed out there is no mention of the mayor being the council’s conscience in the draft papers as Cheshire East prepares to revise its constitution – the rulebook which governs how the council operates and its decision-making process.
Speaking at a meeting of the Constitution Committee on Thursday, she said: “The one thing I did ask that should be in there [the constitution] is that the mayor is the conscience of the council.
“That was a lifeline to me two years ago when more and more and more information was coming in front of me. That was what gave me the ability to go forward in the way I did. And I know I received a lot of criticism for that, but actually that was absolutely fundamental.”
The former mayor was also critical of the council’s officers for only giving councillors reports – of more than 100 pages – at the meeting on Thursday.
Referring to the omission of the mayor as conscience she added: “That’s only one tiny little area, what else is missing or, indeed, has suddenly gone in there?”
She added that the constitution was very important and the council ‘needed to get it right’.
She said: “I am seriously worried.”
According to Department of Communities and Local Government guidance, council meeting agendas and reports should be made available not only to councillors but also members of the public and the press five working days before the meeting.
Coun Laura Jeuda added the lack of papers meant the public could not access information about the meeting.
She said: “Is this a public meeting? There were no papers on the website... there was nothing there to see so people who probably would have come to comment on particular issues didn’t know what those issues were.”
The documents were handed to councillors as part of Cheshire East Council’s work to update and streamline its constitution.
The council did not respond to our request for a comment.