COUNCILLORS at Warrington Borough Council have unanimously voted against changes to limit Full Council questions and motions.
At a recent Constitution Sub-Committee meeting, councillors from all parties voted against proposed changes to the Council’s constitution which would have limited the number of questions and motions that could be asked.
Elected councillors are currently free to ask questions and request information whenever and however they like. Whether that be in council meetings or via personal requests to officers and cabinet members.
The recommendations were put forward by council officers after meetings have increased in length and complexity over recent years. If the limits to questions and motions had been adopted by the Committee, the changes to the constitution would have had to be approved at the annual meeting of the Council later this month.
Councillors were also asked to consider the length of meetings and decided that Full Council should end at 21:30. With the ability for councillors to vote to extend the meeting further to consider any remaining business. Meaning there would be no restriction of debate.
A spokesperson for the Warrington Labour Group said: “Limits to the number of questions and motions are already in place at other local authorities across the country. We decided this was not the appropriate approach in Warrington.
“Healthy debate and scrutiny of the Council is important. We wanted to protect that.
“As a democratically elected body we take our responsibilities seriously.
“The decision made by local councillors from all parties on Friday, reinforces our commitment to being open, honest and transparent.”
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Quite right far too often recently this labour controlled council have pushed and rushed through applications that required more thought and investigation .