Give public real voice in council meetings

WHO cares about local democracy? Clearly the people of West Berkshire care very much.

Since council meetings have been live streamed, many hundreds have attended meetings virtually.

Already, July’s executive meeting has attracted 177 views, 142 of us watched the Health and Wellbeing Board in May and close to 1,000 have looked in on the most recent local planning committee.

Surely the council is delighted with its new online presence?

Sadly, in exchange for this new form of access, we the public have disappeared.

Public questions, now posed in writing, are answered in writing.

Follow up or clarification questions are banned.

Answers are published online a week or so later, in a link, tucked somewhere within meeting minutes (adding to the administrative work of officers).

Councillor Abbs (‘Local democracy has not been lost’, Newbury Weekly News, July 30) describes a democracy that is relational and discursive, based on critical debate and exchange between the elected and the electorate.

He is calling for members of the public to be allowed to join virtual meetings, as Newbury Labour Party has requested over many years (and as happens in most other councils). Mrs Doherty, leader of the council, sees it a little differently – democracy is not lost, she says, because YouTube is “reaching a far greater audience than before”.

She seems to think democracy is what a ruling group decides it is – and for her, that’s a one-way transmission; from them, to us.

But Mrs Doherty and her fellow councillors are not video stars, and we the public are not their

‘audience’.

We are, increasingly and necessarily, active citizens.

We are all worried about the future. We want reliable and truthful information.

We elect our politicians, from whatever party, so that they can act in our collective interest, fairly and transparently.

More than ever our politicians need our trust, and our support, as they make the most difficult of decisions. While local authorities have been given unprecedented powers under the Covid-19 legislation, enacting those powers will rely on our help, cooperation, understanding and engagement.

So once again I make the plea; make more time for the public in meetings, not less.

Let us speak, again, and save officers’ time by using YouTube as the record.

Recognise that we are all busy too, and thank us for our efforts.

Involve the very communities the council needs so desperately. Thinking of us, the citizenry, as anyone’s audience is a category error.

JULIE WINTRUP

Newbury Labour Party