You would have thought that it would be possible to find our which way your local councillor voted on important matters which affect the local community but apparently that is not routinely recorded in the minutes of Broadland District Council's meetings - so much for transparency!
Occasionally a recorded vote is requested as at the Extraordinary Council Meeting held on 25th February this year and we can see how councillors voted on the submission of the Joint Core Strategy:
For:
Mrs Bannock, Mr Bracey, Mr Carrick, Mr Clancy, Mrs Cottingham, Mrs Davis Claydon, Mr Debbage, Mr Fisher, Mr Foulger, Mr Graham, Mr Green, Mr Iles, Mr Kelly, Mr Knowles, Mr Leggett, Mr Mallett, Mr Nash, Mr Proctor, Mr C Thompson, Mr Vincent, Mr Ward and Mr Woodbridge
Against:
Mr Balcombe, Mr Beadle, Mrs Beadle, Mr Harrison, Mr Joyce, Mr Kular, Mr McGilvray and Mr Starling
Abstained:
Mr Dewgarde and Mrs Peters
However, in the normal case we obviously need one of these hard-working organisations working at local government level - www.publicwhip.org.uk or www.theyworkforyou.com - although www.openlylocal.com is a good start. Meanwhile we're in the dark unless someone requests a recorded vote under Procedural Rule 17.4.
Yes we noticed the vote. There must have been a three line whip on the Conservatives but I noticed that two Lib Dems abstained.
ReplyDeleteIt does nothing for democracy when a Planning meeting of such importance to the locality is reduced to party political farce with pre-meetings to ensure the members toe the party line. Democracy died in Broadland on that day. A triumph for Mr Kirby.