But, as usual, it doesn’t announce sanctions for councils such as ours that ignore them.
But it should make it easier for the people facing increases of 330% on their residents parking to scrutinise the numbers.
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East Devon Watch 
I did write to the government about how the transparency rules can be enforced, and received the following from Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government:
“Local authorities are independent bodies and accountable to their electorate rather than Ministers, and it is right that councils are properly held to account by their electorate. To help the public hold their councils to account we have, for instance, changed the rules on openness and transparency of council decision making, most recently putting in place new rules to allow the public to report on council meetings. I consider this approach [i.e. localism], rather than centralist, top-down control, is the right one and allows an informed public to hold their council to account when exercising the ultimate sanction at the ballot box.
That is why it is important that when there is an election, the public take the opportunity to exercise their right to vote.”
So, there you have it!!! Stated in plain english, pretty much as bluntly as it can be phrased, by a senior Government Minister, a Secretary of State no less! And the definition of what localism is really all about. If you don’t like secrecy, alleged corruption, lack of consultation, lack of accountability etc., then the only solution available is to use YOUR vote at the next local council elections (in May 2015) to vote in a different set of councillors.
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