Due to technical problems with the sound system , last night’s Full Council meeting may not have been recorded. So several short reports on this EDA website are intended to give an idea of the meeting, focusing on its most crucial  discussion points.

Firstly, proposed changes to rules on public speaking.

Opinions were strongly divided:

Cllr Button (Lib Dem) said that ” the Council should not even suggest that public speaking is being restricted”,   at a time when public confidence in the Council has been seriously eroded, with East Devon now left with the consequences of having no Local Plan  in place. “You are going to get a backlash,” he warned.

But Cllr Howe (Cons) disagreed. “I think we must restrict public speaking,” he told the Chair

An EDA observer sums up as follows:

‘The aim of the recommendations seemed sensible – reduce the risk of poor planning decisions by preventing overly-long meetings . But the proposed solution was bureaucratic, involving pre-registration, last minute shuffling of the order on agendas, overhead slides projecting planning law guidelines, disclosure of private contact details of speakers (Data Protection issues?), limitation of numbers of speakers supporting or objecting, extra opportunity for applicants or their agent to speak, a new timing clock and lots more.

What emerged eventually was recognition that all that was needed was stronger Chairmanship – reduce duplication, proper reading by members of Officers’ reports instead of word-by-word reading out by Officers, and smarter time management, particularly at Development Management Committee meetings.

The referral back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC ), made at last night’s Full Council meeting,  could lead in that direction.’

It was noted that Cllr Bloxham  spoke for 27 minutes last night in his first explanation of the new rules. The four questions from the public took less than 10 minutes in total.

The Overview and Scrutiny could bear this in mind when they look at how to overcome the present problem of unduly lengthy meetings.