Party group leader questions Calderdale Council's transparency in decision making

Leberal Democrat group leader Coun James Baker, speaking at February’s full meeting of Calderdale Council, said Leader of the Council, Coun Tim Swift had earlier stated that the council conducted its business transparently.

But Coun Baker said he wanted to know why previous full council meetings had not been afterwards published on the council’s YouTube channel – meetings are screened live on the channel.

He added that when he went onto the council’s website, the key decisions list was blank, and sometimes agenda items were not published until very late.

“This isn’t transparency,” he said.

Coun Baker (Warley) also wanted to know why proposed budget cuts were all wrapped up under the Future Council plan.

“Mixenden Activity Centre only found out after the decision had been made – none of that is transparent,” he said.

Coun Swift (Lab, Town) said he would get a reply for him on the issue of agenda items but disagreed with Coun Baker’s view of things.

In terms of key decisions, the definition of what these were was quite tight and did not cover every or each Cabinet issue, and on a wider legal basis issues could occur if something additional was later brought to a proposal.

The reasons for the Future Council programme had been frequently discussed and related to the council’s budget position – this included more flexibility for opposition councillors to speak at Cabinet meetings twice and scrutiny board call-ins, said Coun Swift.

“The debate around those was pretty substantial,” he said.