Lib Dems lambast '5 years of delay'

12.00.00am GMT Tue 20th Nov 2007

Lib Dem Leader Jeff Brooks has uncovered a breathtaking five years of delay over just 21 of the council decisions taken since last November.

The Council's 'Forward Plan', which timetables all the key decisions to be taken by the Executive, Council or individual Executive members, has revealed 21 separate decisions were delayed in the past year by a total of 63 months - more than five years.

Outraged Councillor Jeff Brooks commented:

"What is the point of setting a timetable to make important decisions if the Tories are unable to stick to it? This is an incredible amount of delay in a very short space of time - some of these decisions are vital and need to be taken on time. I shall continue to monitor these delays over the coming year because frankly it is nowhere near good enough but their track record of drift and delay doesn't make me at all optimistic."

Shadow Finance spokesman David Rendel added:

"I am calling on the Conservatives to make a concerted effort to improve this poor standard rapidly. But perhaps we should not be too surprised given that the latest plans for the new cinema mean that the Conservatives have clocked up three years of delay on that project alone. And that's after only three years in control!"