As mentioned in an earlier report, OnTheWight were tweeting live from the full council meeting last night (Wednesday).
If you forget to follow our live stream of updates, we’ve gathered them together for you below. Simply click through the slideshow to get a flavour of what was discussed and agreed.
The meeting lasted just short of four hours (followed by a brief Cabinet meeting) and for those of us observing the proceedings, as well as for many taking part, the mood of the evening was one of great frustration.
Why the frustration?
There’s open debate and then there’s debate for the sake of it.
There were a lot of proposed motions to go through last night as well as substantive agenda items – as there often are at the first ‘down to business’ full council meeting following an election – so we were fully expecting the meeting to last at least three hours.
However, we felt that many of the discussions seemed to go round and round in circles, taking far longer to reach a conclusion and vote than necessary.
Lack of focus
We’re all for open debate and councillors having their say – it’s an important part of the democratic process that in our view was lacking with the previous council – but last night’s meeting lacked focus and direction.
Cllr Lumley put it very succinctly when he referred to the meeting as “a shambles”.
“I’ve never been so fed up in a council meeting, as I have tonight.”
Let’s hope that next month’s meeting is an improvement on last night.
For those keen to know what was on the agenda, we’ve embedded it below for your convenience.
Image: Alan Levine under CC BY 2.0
