John Pugh opposition leader on Sefton Council has warned that what has happened in Liverpool could easily happen in Sefton unless there is a cultural change.
Cllr Pugh said: “I wouldn’t question the real integrity of current post holders but Sefton, like Liverpool, has become a one party state and like in Liverpool, all the Scrutiny Committees are chaired by Labour Party members.
“There seems no good reason for that- particularly when the vast bulk of decisions are made by a small, tight knit group of councillors from the same party.”
“Area Committees where the ruling party does not always have a majority have been abolished and we have seen the troubling secrecy that surrounded the disastrous purchase of the Bootle New Strand. ”
“Centralising power in Mayors and Cabinets -a system which has been forced upon us by Tory and Labour governments is hugely risky ” claims Cllr Pugh
“The public want to see open and public debate about the use their money is put to and proper challenge to decisions made. What has happened in Liverpool was bound to happen somewhere with power being so centralised and concentrated.
“We have to reinvigorate the open culture that used to exist in local government to restore public faith in decision making.“
But Leader of the Council and Leader of Sefton Labour Group Ian Maher says the Liberal Democrats are not using the established scrutiny options available to them.
Cllr Maher responded: “It is fascinating that the leader of the opposition here in Sefton seems to have little or no understanding of how the Council works!
“There are various Scrutiny committees within Sefton Council with members from all political groups members of each one. Part of their role is to scrutinise any Council decisions that have been made that are brought to them by Councillors.
“Any 3 Councillors can ‘Call in’ decisions that have been made by Cabinet or Cabinet members that they are not happy with to the relevant Council committee to be scrutinised prior to the decision being acted upon.
“Decisions made by Cabinet members are notified to all Council members and they are advised at that time of the deadline for that decision to be called in for scrutiny.
“Same with Cabinet meetings, where agendas are published before the meeting takes place and Council members are again given the opportunity to call in any decision made after the meeting has taken place.
“This very, very rarely happens. I can only assume that the Liberal Democrats and others in the Council are mostly happy with the decisions that have been made by Sefton Labour.
“Or maybe, Sefton’s Liberal Democrats are simply too lazy and cannot be bothered reading Council reports or notices, or don’t actually have any real interest in Council decision making processes until it is election time.
“Councillor Pugh needs to look a lot closer to home about the amount of Scrutiny and ‘call ins’ that occur within Sefton Council.”
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