Waffle, it’s unversatile

IN THE new normal, council meetings are being held all over the shop. So rather than Thursday, this week’s full council meeting took place, over the internet, on Monday. And rather than taking advantage of technology and starting earlier as councillors were at home with no commute, it started at its usual time of 7.30pm. This is a shame as the agenda included several motions brought for debate at previous meetings, but filibustered out. So it should come as little surprise that on Monday theywere filibustered out once again. And it is disappointing that when this constant faffing was raised by a resident – both Lib Dems and Conservatives asked questions to make their own party look good – the response was ‘not my problem’. It is an affront to our democracy that the council chamber, even in this virtual basis, should be prevented from proper debate. It is a shame that parties are whipped to vote along lines rather than consciences. And it is a disaster that motions are stuck in the eternal quagmire of time. Something needs to be done to make our council meetings run more fluidly, even if it means holding them over two consecutive evenings. We can’t go on like this.