Question
The Liberal Democrats have become increasingly concerned about the fact that due to the time constraints artificially imposed on them, meetings of full Council do not manage to complete all the business that is on the agenda. This has gone on for some time and means that important issues do not get discussed.
In an effort to try to ensure this Council meeting is at least able to reach the motions, which have been waiting some months to be debated, the Liberal Democrat group is submitting only this one written Member Question, saving time but sacrificing our limited opportunities to hold the ruling group to account in the process. At Annual Council the Conservative leader withdrew Conservative questions to get the meeting finished in time. Our question is: what will the Conservatives do at this and future meetings to try to ensure we reach the end of the agenda?
Minutes:
The Liberal Democrats have become increasingly concerned about the fact that due to the time constraints artificially imposed on them, meetings of full Council do not manage to complete all the business that is on the agenda. This has gone on for some time and means that important issues do not get discussed.
In an effort to try to ensure this Council meeting is at least able to reach the Motions, which have been waiting some months to be debated, the Liberal Democrat group is submitting only this one written Member question, saving time but sacrificing our limited opportunities to hold the ruling group to account in the process. At Annual Council the Conservative leader withdrew Conservative questions to get the meeting finished in time. Our question is: what will the Conservatives do at this and future meetings to try to ensure we reach the end of the agenda?
Answer
Thank you for your question, especially as it is now 9.06pm, one and a half hours in.
As you know, the Constitution Review Working Group (CRWG) considers all requests from Members to ensure the Council meeting runs effectively and efficiently. This has included examining the time available for each item at the Council meeting to complete the business of the meeting. The Constitution allows for Council meetings to be extended for an additional 30 minutes, meaning that the meeting can run for a maximum of three and half hours. In addition, the Council has agreed to introduce an additional meeting in the municipal year recognising the interest that both the public and all Members have in the work of the Council.
In short, it can be a difficult balance to strike – ensuring adequate time for public and Member participation, holding the Executive to account, full Council taking informed key decisions on important items that affect our community, and leaving time for the full debate of Motions. By means of example and not criticism, I note that since your question was submitted, your Leader has submitted an urgent question on a very important subject but this will necessarily take time away that otherwise could have been allocated to the debate on Motions.
Furthermore, there are five Motions, the first four of which are by Lib Dems which in total will take two and a half hours to complete if they were on their own without any other business.
The Conservatives have no control over what other parties seek to include in Council meetings and, therefore, cannot ensure that we reach the end of the agenda.
Supplementary Question
I think you are, perhaps deliberately, missing the point. The fact that we have already had more than one suggestion this evening that, in order to get through the business in the Council meeting we lose our opportunity to ask questions. That it has been suggested that it is a waste of time to debate how residents can be represented democratically at the Planning Committee. And you are objecting to four Motions, not that they were submitted for this meeting but were submitted as long ago as last September and we have not managed to get to them. All that indicates that we have a problem. We are not getting through all the things we need to do as a Council. Will you commit to at least, genuinely, having a cross-party discussion on what we can do to improve this?
Supplementary Answer
Genuinely, I have been trying to do that for the past 13 months.