Shocking affront to local democracy - council meeting cut short

The behaviour on show at the full council meeting held at Rochdale Town Hall on Wednesday 11 October can only be described as shameful, with councillors on both sides of the chamber guilty of petty squabbling and unseemly personal attacks. Such was the level of acrimony that the Mayor had to stand on several occasions and insist that councillors sit down and behave, the surprise is that madam Mayor did not see fit to eject at least one councillor from the chamber.

The meeting started well with issues of importance to the borough being put forward as motions and eliciting healthy debate, however, following this initial good start the meeting became increasingly acrimonious as Labour and Conservative councillors accused the Lib Dems of deliberate filibustering in order to try and prevent the opposition holding portfolio holders to account.

The meeting ended in farce, long before business had a chance of being concluded, with Lib Dem Councillor David Clayton the worst offender attempting, despite the Mayor's insistence that he sit down, to march across to the Labour benches demanding to see a copy of a magazine Councillor Colin Lambert was quoting from.

Commenting on the tiresome turn of events, Labour Councillor Lambert said: "After a good opening debate on the future of hospital services, we were treated to a farce of an experience of self-indulgent political nonsense.

"The main reports of council on which senior elected members should be held to account, were not completed. With councillors voting to end the farce at 10.45 because everyone had worked out nothing was going to be achieved to benefit the borough.

"This is the second council running, which has been a total useless exercise and an affront to the democratic process.

"Over 200 questions and comments were submitted, many of them frivolous. Why do the ruling party need to wait for full council to ask their colleagues simple questions which in reply are spun into long party political speeches?

"Did the leader of the council really need to ask each of his cabinet colleagues’ questions on their report, when earlier in the evening he had assured the council that they each knew what the others were doing? It is a serious sign of weak or non leadership when you need to ask your cabinet in council what is happening in their remit.

"The last two council meetings should have been recorded and shown to the rate payers of the borough, so everyone could see how their money is being wasted and how little respect is shown to all our rate payers when such a strategic meeting as full council can be reduced to a self indulgent farce.

"One suggestion is that the controlling party put forward a large number of questions so that they would not have the time to answer more serious questions and could not therefore be held to account.

"If this is democratic control under Rochdale Council then it is time for something different.

"It is time the rate payers of the borough were treated with respect and that issues facing our communities were taken seriously."

Council Leader and Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Alan Taylor, said: "It is quite obvious that we need to look at how meetings are conducted.  There was a very simple reason why the Council meeting overran, there were six Notice of Motions and the amendments that came with them.  The Liberal Democrats have long understood the importance of Notices of Motion to shape Council policy and the difference with this meeting was that for a change, Labour and the Conservatives put three in too. 

"The personal attacks from all sides of this chamber must stop; we need to concentrate on Council policy.

"I am afraid this meeting was not a good advertisement for politics in the Borough. 

"The Liberal Democrat Group will not apologise though to anyone about asking questions, dialogue in the Council is vital and some of the issues discussed were hugely important to this Borough.  These included the regeneration of the Town Centre, Libraries, the anti-social use of fireworks, flooding in Bamford and Heywood, the budget, the future of Touchstone’s Café and many more. 

"Liberal Democrat Councillors have every right to ask questions of the Cabinet in a public meeting.  One minute the opposition accuse us of carrying out our job in secret and then question why we are asking questions in public.  They are not consistent in their approach and they need to look at themselves.  Yes, Councillors approach me about issues and quite rightly, it is one thing answering questions in my office and another answering questions in a public meeting. 

"I thank the Liberal Democrat Councillors for taking an active role in Council Meetings and hope this continues."

Speaking on behalf of the Conservative Group, Councillor Ian Duckworth said: "We believe the Lib Dems are running a secretive administration by excluding the other two parties from informal Cabinet meetings and also refusing to meet with shadow portfolio holders - the only real opportunity opposition members have to question cabinet members is at full Council. However, their paid spin doctor then sets to work to protect them with a large bodyguard of unnecessary, self serving and trivial questions (58 at last nights meeting) plus motions to Council, and that's not counting Labour and Conservative queries. It's obvious we are going to run out of time.

"It is a sad fact that we spent nearly an hour discussing ID cards, which is outside the Council's control and about 5 minutes on education, which takes two thirds of our budget and is set for major changes.

"The three party leaders agreed some time ago to reduce the number of questions asked to a reasonable level but the Lib Dems have not kept their part of the bargain. This was the underlying cause of the friction at the meeting. When you are aware that someone has promised one thing in private and does another in front of the public and the media, tempers can flare.

"However, the Conservative Group did let their frustrations show and cannot be absolved from all blame in an evening that ill served the people of our borough. We promise  to avoid such a display in future."

The Mayor, Councillor Jean Hornby, was visibly upset as she left the Town Hall after the meeting and Lib Dem Councillor Paul Rowen MP put partisan politics to one side and thanked her for her attempts to keep control of the meeting and registered his dismay and disgust at the antics in the chamber, including he said those of his own side.

It can only be hoped that Mr Rowen, along with the three party leaders, can follow up his laudable support of Mayor Hornby and do something to rescue council meetings and turn them back into a genuine opportunity to debate the pressing issues facing the Borough rather than a playground fight.