We have published this before but it is worth reading and digesting it again:

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-local-councils-more-transparent-and-accountable-to-local-people

Weasel words?

If you want to know how much money our elected members cost us and how much their expenses add on to that figure, the information is here:

Click to access 150714correctone.pdf

Travel expenses vary wildly, some Independent and minority party councillors paying their own travel expenses out of their own pockets …. (and why is the filename listed as “150714correctone”)!

What is more interesting is the list of “co-optees appointed by the council” at the end of the list – 12 people given various quite small amounts of fees and expenses.

What on earth is the status of a “co-optee of the council” and how does it differ from the status of a consultant? Are they people expert in some particular discipline brought in for their expertise? Where is the paper trail that shows what their particular expertise was needed for? If there is not sufficient information surely this would be a device open to abuse in any council? Are they co-opted officers?

If so, why was”embedded officer and/or consultant” Steve Pratten, engaged at a cost of more than £10,000 per month not simply co-opted for his expertise as these 12 people seem to have been?

An EDA member has sent his reflections on full Council:

Now that a month or more has passed since the last full Council meeting, my first and only experience of one to date, I have been reflecting on the impression I gained from sitting through the whole thing from start to finish. My thinking here was prompted by discovering that the next full council is not until October, 3 months after the previous one – and I couldn’t understand how EDDC could function without more frequent full council meetings, and that got me started thinking about the one I attended.

So, leaving aside my own question to the council at the start, and the detail of the anti-democracy motions that pulled me there, my overall impression was … well … nothing. What was the point? The point of the council meeting? Aside from the legal need to hold it, what was the purpose of pulling together the 50 odd councillors, several council officers, a few handfuls of members of the public, and a journalist or two?

After all, there was absolutely no real debate about local issues, difficult decisions about priorities or funding or were not even mentioned. My only real memories of the meeting were the pathetic non-answers to serious questions raised by EDA members, and the belly-button gazing, inwardly-looking discussion about democracy and stopping local people from engaging. Tourism? Nope. Local economy? Nah! The Local Plan? Not a sausage. Future phases of Cranbrook or forming a Cranbrook Town Council? Nada. The office relocation? Only a statement of ignorance by Cllr Diviani. Sainsbury’s pulling out of their distribution centre plans? Finger not on the pulse – not firing on all cylinders perhaps?

So, aside from the need to rubber stamp what is decided by Cabinet without any voting input from non-Cabinet members, what was the point?