Optimist unmasked
OK, so you probably guessed right that the Labour Group would not suspend normal party politics and so allow my motion for meetings of the Member Area Panels (see below) to be called. I think the vote was something like 65 - 35.
Sure, the constitution goes by the board. Sure, many members voted “against” even though they probably actually favoured the motion for local councillors to have some say in local issues. But no doubt they’re proud to display that “they” have more votes than “us”. It’s just a pity to have good aguments ignored because they come from the “wrong side”.
Just in case you’re not sure what the MAPs were meant to do, here’s their role as defined in the constitution:
• to deliberate issues of a local nature and promote members’ participation and involvement in local community activity;
• to feed back to Cabinet issues of local concern;
• to facilitate partnership working at the local level with other public and voluntary agencies and to provide a political input by local County Councillors into Local Strategic Partnerships on the basis of County Council policy, planning and strategy;
• to maintain an overview of Community Development in the District area and in particular to advise on priorities and provide County Councillor support into local community regeneration partnerships;
• to inform the expenditure of budgets delegated to chief officers for area-based initiatives.
So if you can see that those things aren’t happening in your area, you know who to blame. All the guilty parties will be named in the Council Minute Book.
The most absurd thing, however, was to watch the Conservatives. I’m beginning to wonder what motivates them since they seem to have abstained on almost every issue raised at council. Fortunately no-one in Derwentside has to worry since none were elected here, but if I had voted for them I’d be worrying about exactly what I was getting for my money. I may be doing them an injustice, of course. Perhaps they really didn’t know whether they supported the constitutional right to local democracy!
I won’t let it rest here. In my book you can only ignore the constitution in a dictatorship - and the people of County Durham won’t stand for that.
have your say
