At last night’s (Tuesday) Isle of Wight Scrutiny meeting, Leader of the Isle of Wight council, Cllr Dave Stewart, was asked “who runs the council?”.
The question arose after members of the Scrutiny Committee were told they weren’t able to see documents as part of the review into the Cowes floating bridge unless on a specific computer within County Hall.
30 hours reading – only at County Hall
At last month’s Scrutiny Committee meeting, it was agreed that Members would be able to see all floating bridge-related documents that are currently not in the public domain.
However, officers are insisting that the elected councillors are only able to view these documents on a laptop in County Hall.
With it estimated that the reading time is 30 hours, several of the councillors last night expressed their frustration at effectively not being trusted to view the documents in their own time via a secure server.
“Getting it the wrong way round”
Cllr Geoff Brodie observed,
“The Isle of Wight council consists of 40 members and we have staff that work for us on behalf of the Island community.
“I think we’re getting it the wrong way round.”
Cllr Julia Baker-Smith asked the leader (prefacing that it wasn’t meant to be a confrontational question), “Who runs the Isle of Wight council?”
Cllr Stewart replied, “the council runs the council” and that he was,
“Happy for any members of the council in the right circumstances, protected under the legal guidance that we have, to see any document.”
He added that,
“We have to respect the fact the council has a legal duty to protect itself.”
“Real risk” of prejudicing legal action
Helen Miles, the head of legal, explained that this was an unusual situation and it has been many years since she’s had to advise on restricted access for legal reasons.
She went on to say the IWC was in a period of taking legal advice over the floating bridge and may, or may not be able to take legal proceedings. If the documents were released more generally, she claimed there was a “real risk” in terms of the IWC’s ability to take action, but they may also prejudice the position of ‘other parties’.
She explained that it if papers did leak, it would be difficult to identify where the leak came from.
Legal: Will look into it
Cllr Garrett said he understood the legal restrictions but was puzzled that IWC were not able to sort an IT solution, adding that members have already taken on the responsibility to behave in a certain way and within rules.
Helen Miles said she would enquire as to how the documents could be seen outside of County Hall, but in the meantime, there was an arrangement in place for members to read all documents in the building.
The vote
Members voted in favour of a recommendation from the Chair for all Scrutiny members to have the capability to view the restricted documents – other than sitting in front of a laptop in County Hall for 30 hours.
