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West Berkshire Liberal DemocratsWorking for you |
"Tories sound death knell for area forums" - Lib Dems
September 29, 2008 6:23 PM
A crunch meeting of West Berkshire Council last week saw the District's area forums brought to an end by the Council's leading Conservative Group. An amendment brought by the Liberal Democrats designed to save the valued and popular forums by running them for a further year accompanied by a robust publicity campaign was unanimously rejected by the Conservatives, who opted to lose the forums altogether.
Lib Dem Leader Jeff Brooks, who brought the amendment, commented:
"The Tories last night showed that they have no desire to interact with West Berkshire residents in a way that makes a difference to peoples' lives and welfare. The Area Forums enabled the public to quiz their Councillors and demand answers on community issues - the Tories have no interest in such accountability. It was clear from the start that they were determined to abolish Area forums. After removing various powers from them, including appointment of School Governors, they deleted their very small highways budgets. Then came this review which was a complete farce given that the forums were suspended from the outset, making it impossible for the review panel to visit them to see how they were working.
It is perfectly reasonable to want to improve matters through a review - in fact it became clear from the comments of Parish Councils that better publicity would help raise the awareness of what they achieved. Several Parish Councils supported my motion to continue them. This cut no ice with the Tories. Setting up a stall at the Royal Berkshire Show is nothing more than a gimmick and only provides Council contact to those people who spend £15 on the entry ticket - and we have already established that a very large percentage of people who visit the Show do not even live in the District. This really is a blow for local people across West Berkshire and the democratic need to engage with our residents."
Councillor Keith Woodhams, who led the campaign to save Thatcham's popular area forum, presented a petition of over 200 signatures calling for the forum to be saved and said:
"Area Forums were an opportunity to get to know local councillors from both town and district councils. Groups of residents got directly involved in schemes large and small to make areas safer and greener for the whole community. Above all they were an opportunity to question elected councillors, council officers and other agencies about what is affecting the community day to day. It is a sad day for local democracy in West Berkshire".
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