A friend asked me why politics were involved in the Town Council?
Well till May 2007 when the Conservatives got a majority it hadn't for the 8 previous years I'd been on it.
The Mayor was shared between Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Independent. Issues were discussed on merit and no one opposed something just because a member from another party or none suggested it. The Chair of Committees were shared out on merit not on political logo.
Now, all Chairs and Vice Chairs are Conservative (apart from one vice chair which was an accident!), the Mayor and Deputy is always Conservative and often a block vote of 11 out of 16 occurs. Even pre meetings occur to make decisions on how to vote on issues. Sometimes you wonder whether discussion and debate is worthwhile when some councillors nod in agreement with you and then vote in a totally different direction. Even worse they tell you the trouble they would get into if they did vote with the Lib Dems.
For the record our Lib Dem councillors can vote freely, we have no pre meetings, we often vote together as we share similar views but this is a Town Council dealing with very local issues. We will support a Conservative members good idea, I just wish it was reciprocal
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Sorry to hear this Nigel. When I was on Hadleigh Town Council (years ago) there were rarely, if ever, any party political issues or decisions. Can't say what it's like now but I dare say someone may enlighten me.
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