Presumably, everyone accepts that, within political parties at local authority level, councillors of each political party will have their own meetings to discuss party strategies, policies, local issues, etc. However, these should be in their own time and not on council premises (though regrettably this is not the case, many party meetings taking place on council premises).

When we come to working parties, “think tanks”, forums or other fancy names for unaccountable groups, these consist of elected councillors often meeting informally and in secret (with or without officers) and producing no agendas and no minutes.

With these working parties, forums and the like we have the strange system that tiny groups of councillors and officers, meeting in secret, can formulate important decisions behind closed doors, not even telling the councillors of their own party, let alone other councillors, what is being discussed or why.

But is this secrecy right or ethical? There is a perfectly acceptable way of discussing confidential items in formal committees (which do have agendas and minutes) – usually known as “Part B”. Anything discussed there has the public excluded but not other councillors and reasons have to be given why the matter is confidential. Though councillors present not in that committee can be excluded from speaking (however councils more enlightened and transparent than EDDC can get around that by temporarily suspending their “Standing Orders” so all councillors present can participate in discussions).

Is it perhaps time that these “informal” meetings were banned completely and only formal meetings with agendas and minutes be allowed – even if members of the public are at times excluded so that, at least, other councillors aware of what is going on?

Why should not ALL councillors know what other councillors are saying and doing and, in the case if a majority party, doing in their name?