13 April 2017
It is concerning that certain councillors have not been attending some of the committee meetings/scrutiny panels that run alongside the Full Council meetings at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council. Whilst we understand that there will always be occasions when it is not possible for a person to attend there have been several occasions when opposition Tory councillors have not attended meetings or sent a substitute when that is permitted, leading to a situation where there are no opposition councillors at a meeting. The Tories are not an effective opposition.
There were no opposition councillors at the last audit committee nor the last Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel (OSP) (where substitutes from the same group are allowed). Effective scrutiny is vital,particularly when there is a large ruling group. Until we have more Greens elected to the Council, we do not have places on all the committees and OSPs but we do try to attend as many meetings as possible, even if we are only able to speak in a limited capacity as members of the public.
The Tory vice-chair of the Health OSP has only attended two of the six meetings held this municipal year, the last three were missed without any apologies being recieved. This person is now standing to also represent his area on the County Council. If he cannot make meetings at the Borough Council, how is he going to attend the meetings at the County?