15 May 2013
The newly elected Green County Councillors James Abbott (Witham Northern) and Michael Hoy (Rochford West) have written to the administration at County Hall calling for all meetings to have a public question time (1).
At the first Full Council since the elections held on 14th May, Cllr. Abbott also raised this issue verbally, as did several other councillors.
However, the newly elected Leader of the Council, Cllr. David Finch, rejected the requests, stating that it would be "bizarre" to allow the public to ask questions and that he could see "no necessity" in changing the current arrangements and that social media could be used instead.
Green Group Leader Cllr. James Abbott said
"It is simply unacceptable that a major authority such as Essex County Council, with a gross budget in excess of £2 billion, does not allow the public to ask questions at most of its meetings.
Residents, many of whom are both council tax payers and voters, clearly should be allowed to ask questions of the authority.
A typical arrangement is that prior notification is given to the council, with a 3 minute slot per person.
We were surprised at the outright rejection of introducing a public question time at ECC meetings. It is a basic principle of democracy that residents should be allowed to ask questions of their elected representatives and for answers to be given at meetings where important decisions are being made."
Currently there are very few opportunities for the public to ask questions at ECC meetings.
The request is the first of a series of reforms that the Greens will call for, putting into effect their manifesto pledge to work across party lines to achieve democratic renewal at County Hall.
Cllr. Michael Hoy said
"There is a lack of accountability at Essex County Council and we see the introduction of questions from members of the public during council meetings as a small step in the right direction."
(1) Some meetings, or parts of meetings, need to be closed due to personal or sensitive information being discussed. This is normal in all local authorities and only affects a minority of all the meetings held by an authority.
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