‘Death of democracy’: Outrage over Calderdale Council question time crackdown

Council leader Daniel Sutherland (Reform) said the cabinet received a “joint record” number of questions over the future of the Mixenden Activity Centre in Halifax and the potential closure of Colden Junior and Infant School, near Hebden Bridge.

But there were verbal protests from audience members when he announced these questions would be dealt with "en masse” rather than allowing the usual 30-minutes of oral public questioning set out in the council’s own guidelines.

The public question time at the meeting on Monday lasted around 10 minutes before Coun Sutherland ejected members of the public due to the heckles that erupted after he declined to answer a question about Queens Road Neighbourhood Centre in Halifax.

Councillor Sutherland warned the questioner to stick with the wording of his written question, but then called an end to the question without saying why.

We compared the pre-submitted written question with video footage of the meeting and found he followed the wording verbatim – after being warned not to deviate – yet was still cut off by Coun Sutherland.

Coun Sutherland was asked for a comment on our finding but did not respond.

The questioner’s second oral question, which appeared substantially the same as his written one, also went unanswered before he sat down and labelled the process “the death of democracy”.

Audience members heckled Coun Sutherland’s approach – ultimately leading him to have the public ejected before some were allowed back in.

As the ejection unfolded, Labour group leader Coun Adam Wilkinson claimed Reform cabinet member Coun Darren Commons told him: “Well orchestrated”.

Coun Commons did not respond to a request for comment.

Councillor Wilkinson has accused Reform of “arrogance, division and political games” and showing “contempt for the people of Calderdale”.

Parents of children at Colden Junior and Infant School – which is facing closure after this year’s intake of zero and an estimated £300,000 repair bill – were left “absolutely flabbergasted” by the Reform-led council’s approach to public scrutiny.

Speaking outside the town hall, they collectively refuted Coun Commons’ assertion about a Labour plot and decried the “shutdown” on oral questions.

Julie Thorpe, a former chair of governors at the school, said: “We are perfectly capable of orchestrating this ourselves. We have never met Coun Wilkinson.”

On the curtailed questioning, she said: “We are absolutely flabbergasted. We came here hoping that our questions would have been answered and we could not access information.

"The prepared statement did not touch on our questions. It included information we could already access.”

Tom Newsome, a parent of two children at the school, said he went through a back and forth with council officials to shorten his question about the contentious £300,000 repair estimate, but he was still prevented from asking it and did not get an answer.

“It’s disgusting and frustrating, there’s no words for it. It’s a complete lack of courtesy to people who have attended,” said Mr Newsome.

Kat Molesworth, a university worker with one child at the school and another hoping to join, said: “I didn’t expect them to give the response we wanted, but we thought at least they would give responses.”

Patrick Walker, a public servant with a daughter at the school, said the written statement failed to answer his question about rural school designation, while criticising the council leader for his attitude.

He said: “I think it was disgraceful how members of the public were shut down before they could put their views forward.”

Megan Gault, 33, who has a seven-year-old daughter at the school and a young girl hoping to join next year, said it was a “hideous” experience having worked hard to create a pool of questions at short notice.

Her father Jim Gault, a retired stonemason who has put multiple generations through Colden School, also felt his time had been wasted and could not recall attending a council meeting like this in his lifetime.

Councillor Margot Puddepha (Green, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden East) said she was “upset and shocked” at Reform’s “scandalous” handling of public questions.

“They just changed the rules,” she said, “The democratic process we had faith in has been so badly damaged by this disgrace of a meeting.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ashley Evans said: “I was not impressed by the leader’s abrasive and supercilious treatment of members of the public who asked questions leading them to, understandably, be frustrated and angry."

Calderdale Council did not respond to a request for comment.