Time table for next municipal year approved

THE TIMETABLE for the next municipal yearwas approved by the council.

Speaking in favour of the proposal, Cllr John Halsall said looked back on the last year, where virtual meetingswere introduced.

“We are very proud that local democracy and transparencywere impaired for the shortest time possible,” he said. “During that period briefing meetingswere held for all the group leaders so that all members could be informed and influencedwhatwe have been doing. decisions have been taken and the received knowledge of the situation.

“These leaders meetings have been continuedwherever the pandemic has been at its worst. Nothing has been done covertly nor havewe shied away from difficult decisions because of imperfect information.”

He added: “I’m a Democrat. I believe that the English adversarial system of an executive, an opposition, a free press, if operated properly, will give rise to the optimal decision making, which is transparent and open.”

At a time of national crisis, Cllr Halsall said, it was vital that the public had confidence in the council, its officers and its councillors.

“This is not the only responsibility and the ruling group, but also the opposition and the press. Criticism of our staffwho cannot reply demoralise them, and does nothing to improve service delivery,” he said.

Speaking about the timetable, he said:

“It includes a full panoply of meetings, which allowfor full participation of all members of this council.

“We anticipate the occurrence of this timetable, wewill restart physical meetings, but not necessarily all meetings.

“There could be hybrid, or in some cases, continuewith virtual meetings.”

Cllr Clive Jones (Lib Dem, Hawkedon) called for extra time formeetings. “There have been a number of full council meetings in the last year that have been somewhat fractious. The main reason for this is there hasn’t been enough time to get through the council’s business.”

He called for an extra council meeting to “enable more time for democratic debate and more opportunities for councillors to hold the executive to account”.

Cllr Guy Grandison (Con, Maiden Erlegh) said that the overviewand scrutiny panels were the most important part of the council, “It holds the executive to account” he said, praising officers for increasing the number of meetings planned.

Cllr Jim Frewin (Ind, Shinfield South) welcomed the call for additional meetings, “the amount of meetings I’ve been to wherewe haven’t completed business has surprised me”.

He also praised officers for theirwork in completing the timetable.

Cllr John Halsall summed up by saying that his party had done everything he could to have tried to complete council business on time.

The schedulewas approved.