Holding shorter meetings later in the day will make local democracy more ‘accessible’ to the public, according to Sheffield Council.
Starting next Wednesday, the monthly full council meetings will begin at 5pm, rather than 2pm, finishing at 8pm.
Meetings can often last over four hours, and the authority hopes the new time will keep things more streamlined.
The hope is the later scheduling will also allow more people who might otherwise be at work to attend.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with openness, transparency or accountability – quite the opposite in fact. The council has been reducing meetings, the frequency of meetings left, and even then the content of the meetings has become trite. In effect, we see the continuing reduction in local democracy to the point of inconsequence.
LikeLike
Whats the point. Labour send their voters to court unless thry agree with them
LikeLike
And your examples of this are nige?
LikeLike
Can’t councillors claim additional expenses for ‘Out of hours’ meetings? And does an 8pm finish meet the criteria?
LikeLike
Most people who work finish at 5pm at the earliest, so how will holding the meeting at 5pm encourage attendance? For those able to attend in the afternoon, they often have duties in the evening, so 5pm is a bad time. To make matters worse, if anyone has questions, they should attend by 4.45pm. If an issue is emotive, activists make suitable arrangements for the afternoons, whilst children are at school. As for offering a written response to questions, these are never, despite the promise, included in the public record, further diminishing transparency and disempowering the citizens. As for honesty and accountability, who can hold the politicians to account for failing to ensure that the written replies are in the public record, and if anyone asks, will they be promised a written answer?
LikeLike