"Council watchdog? More like Tory lapdog" - Brooks

12.37.35pm GMT Mon 15th Dec 2008

Cross-party recommendations made by the Council's watchdog committee, the Overview and Scrutiny Commission (O&SC), and intended to improve Council performance were very largely ignored at Tuesday's Executive meeting.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Jeff Brooks explained why this process is failing in West Berkshire: "Conservative and Liberal Democrat members worked through many issues in great depth and agreed on a range of recommendations. However, the Executive hardly bothered to discuss them before turning them down. Detailed scrutiny of Executive decisions followed by making recommendations to the Executive about how they can improve services is a vital part of how a good, accountable Council should be run. On Tuesday night the Executive threw out nearly all of the watchdog's recommendations, leaving me wondering whether there is really any point at all to going through this farce?"

Councillor David Rendel, who also sits on the Overview & Scrutiny Commission, agreed, "Perhaps the most appalling aspect of the Conservatives' performance was that Waste Chief Geoff Findlay dismissed many of the questions that our Shadow Portfolio Holder, Royce Longton, put to him, nonchalantly uttering that he was asking the wrong questions! He clearly has no desire to see any improvement to the dismal performance delivered to date. He is not even able to accept constructive criticism from his own party. The whole scrutiny process is being neutered by the current Leader of the Council. This means that there is no chance of the mistakes the Council make ever being corrected before they become really damaging."