- Green Councillors frustrated by Labour’s “timewasting” at City Council Meeting
- Several other urgent motions were not discussed and will now have to follow in December
Green Party councillors were left frustrated by what appeared to be an orchestrated delay in proceedings by the Labour at last week’s Full Council meeting.
This meant that only a few items were discussed, with the majority of motions now delayed until the next Full Council meeting in December. These include Cllr Stuart Allen’s motion to ban carcinogenic Glyphosate weedkiller from our streets, Cllr Richard Longstaff’s urgent motion to preserve our natural assets, and other cross-party motions, including one to improve access to elections for the blind.
After the meeting, Leigh Ward Councillor Richard Longstaff said;
“Tonight’s council has been sabotaged by Labour, it’s deeply frustrating. The residents of Southend deserve better – they expect robust debate and fair discussion of the critical issues that affect them. Tonight, we had a whole suite of motions to be debated, but instead of meaningful dialogue, we’ve seen filibustering from Labour creating a dysfunctional situation.
“Democracy is the principle that we work collaboratively to drive things forward to improve our city, not to waste time on more party-political matters that have little effect. What’s happened here is unreasonable, unfair, and that will be obvious to anyone watching. This isn’t what I joined the council for, and it’s disheartening for all of us here tonight. It’s ironic that my Group Leaders comments were on topic, reminding members of the democratic process, following last full councils less than favourable episodes”
Richard concluded, “Any administration within council must facilitate democratic process, not stifle it”.
Cllr Stuart Allen said, “Constitutionally, we only have 3 and a half hours to discuss everything on the Full Council’s agenda. This means it’s really important to be efficient with that little time, and use the correct channels of Scrutiny and Working Parties to dissect the details in full. Due to the delays in progress on the night, I was forced to retract my motion on banning the use of Glyphosate, so that it can be discussed properly at the next Full Council meeting.”
“It’s really disappointing. We’re elected to improve the lives of our residents, but partisan game-playing like this means that we cannot do that effectively. I hope that all councillors are mindful that our work should be getting on with delivering for residents by getting through the whole agenda in full at each session.”
The Council provides plenty of opportunities for the vast majority of elements to be discussed in other forums, including Scrutiny and working parties. The Greens therefore are now pushing for changes to the constitution to ensure agendas are gone through in full at each Full Council meeting.
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