This morning, I had car problems. I won’t go into the boring details, but thought it would get sorted and I would be able to get to the Cabinet meeting by ten. This did not prove possible and I dived onto the 597 bus to Truro, knowing I would get there by 11.00.
It was my intention to speak on items relating to the sale of the Restormel Offices (see next post) and Old County Hall in Truro. There were many significant items on the agenda, including the development brief for land to the west of Truro. I knew that if I was there by 11.00, I would be in plenty of time to make my contributions.
I was therefore horrified to arrive to find that both items had been debated and voted through. It turned out that the Leader and some of the Cabinet members were not present at the start of the meeting in order to meet with representatives of the Local Government Chronicle. Something about nominations for awards!
Due to their absence the agenda was rejigged and the most controversial item deferred until later in the meeting – which led directly to me being denied the ability to make the representations that I had wished.
To say that I was angry would be a massive understatement.
For the record and apart from anger at the agenda shift, there were some positive decisions taken at the meeting. Members voted, for example, to increase funding to safeguard bus services (I still have to study the detail); and also to add mixed plastics and tetrapaks to what would collected as part of the kerbside recycling contract.
But this may be overshadowed by the blogosphere outrage at Alec Robertson’s decision to “ban” tweeters from Cabinet meetings. You can read about all that elsewhere …
No comments:
Post a Comment