Yesterday was the AGM of Cambridgeshire County Council, at which Conservative Cllr Nick Clarke was elected leader of the Council.  The Conservative Group voted through sweeping changes to the council’s Constitution, giving less than 24 hours’ notice and this was allowed by the Conservative chair of the meeting.

Cllr Manning (elected last year) commented ‘I was astounded by the arrogance of Nick Clarke and the acceptance of the new Chair of the meeting to allow the changes with such short notice.’

Some lowpoints:

• Bus subsidy cuts will continue
• The new constitutional changes gag the number of questions opposition members can ask of the Cabinet
• Conservatives repeatedly refused to delay the changes by a month to give more time to understand the changes

Members of the Lib Dem group repeatedly pointed out how undemocratic the process is and how rushing the changes through was foolhardy and risky. Unfortunately these pleas were ignored by the Conservative administration.

Leader Cllr Clarke was asked how he will assess the effect of his changes. He was unable to provide any targets. It remains to be seen whether any targets will be made public.

   Leave a comment