Move to exclude councillors from cut meetings thrown out

The recommendation — made by local authority officials — was thrown out by the council’s policy and resources committee following strong objections from SNP members.

The Telegraph revealed last week how the cash-strapped council is struggling with a massive £15.3 million hole in its finances.

But Municipal Buildings bosses — who are set to consult local communities on the ‘unprecedented’ scale of spending cuts the council must make — wanted to freeze councillors out of a series of meetings due to get under way next month.

An official report urged the committee to agree that ‘presentations are conducted in a non-political basis by council officers and that elected members do not attend’.

SNP group leader Chris McEleny said: “I believe that there is a case for councillors to be there. After all, it won’t be the council officers who are making these decisions, it will be us.

“It would surely be more valuable to sit in on these meetings and listen to our constituents, rather than reading about what they’ve said in a report compiled afterwards by officers.” His SNP colleague Innes Nelson declared: “It is just totally undemocratic for elected members not to be at these meetings.” However, Conservative councillor and depute provost David Wilson wanted to scrap the consultation process altogether.

He said: “I have a problem with all of this. There are 20 councillors in Inverclyde who are elected to make decisions.

“The onus is on us and I do not see the necessity for consultation — it just doesn’t work. If you consult to the last detail the expectations of people become too high.” Council leader Stephen McCabe said he had ‘no objection’ to councillors attending the meetings on a ‘listening-only brief’, although he had reservations this stipulation would not be adhered to.

He told the committee: “I think it is better for officers to deliver the facts. It is important that we genuinely listen to people. We should perhaps engage with the public once we’ve had their feedback.

“The danger is for us to get sucked into a discussion and be drawn into expressing our own opinions before a full discussion has taken place.” His Labour colleague Jim Clocherty said: “It is important that the senior management team see this as non-political. We can’t have ping-pong between political parties.” Communities and organisational development director, Patricia Cassidy, said: “We have a real challenge to balance our budget and it is important that we have engagement with out communities in a very open way.

“We must know what their priorities are.” Provost Robert Moran said: “This is about connecting with our communities to allow them to express their views on the cuts that we must make.

“They voted us in. We must listen to them and then deliver on their aspirations.” Cllr Wilson was derided for his anti-consultation stance.

Councillor Martin Brennan told him: “It’s a bit like an elected dictatorship — you get the public to elect you and then totally ignore them for five years.

“My constituents won’t allow me to do that.” But Mr Wilson stood firm.

He said: “I am in favour of councillors being elected to make decisions. I’m not in favour of consultation.” As well as public meetings in community halls and schools across Inverclyde ahead of the 2015-18 budget process getting under way, the council is also engaging questionnaire company Survey Monkey to conduct an online poll.

Inverclyde’s business sector is also to be given a voice on the cuts which have to be made from February onwards.

An SNP motion to agree the public consultation and its timescales but remove a condition that councillors don’t attend meetings was defeated 7-3.

The committee instead voted in favour of a Labour amendment declaring that councillors can attend but ‘not participate’ in the meetings.

The amendment also called for early talks with local members of parliament to ‘inform them of the scale of the budget challenge’.