Number of Harborough District Council meetings to be reduced

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Harborough District Council has expressed serious worries about the Controlling Group’s decision to significantly reduce the number of council meetings.

Cllr Phil Knowles says he’s deeply concerned about the potential impact on the democratic process: “In 2018/19, 19/20 and 20/21 this authority held 12 planning meets each year yet now its being cut to only 9. The Full Council has met 8 times in 2018/19, 9 times in 2019/20 – even at the height of the Pandemic in 2020/21 it met 6 times and yet now the proposal is to meet only 4 times in the year” he said.

Cllr Knowles had urged the Council to ensure it meets as a Full Council 8 times and avoided any reduction in the planning dates with 12 meetings in the schedule, but Councillors voted through the changes.

However, Harborough District Council responds that the move will bring them more in line with other local authorities.

Council Leader Phil King told HFM: “The function of Council meetings is to determine Council decisions, but Scrutiny is the public place to challenge Cabinet decisions. There is also still an opportunity to call special meetings. We will continue to publish our forward plan of items requiring consideration and Cabinet meetings will remain open to the public, and open to scrutiny.”