Death of democracy deferred for 2 weeks

As predicted it would seem that a little piece of democracy is about to die in Woking.  The throes of death did not come on Monday night.  They have been deferred until Monday 23rd June.  On that day the Overview and Scrutiny committee of Woking Council will meet and elect a Chair for the year ahead.  This first meeting of the committee would usually have taken place during the first proper meeting of the full council.

This year the Leader of the Council put forward an amendment during the full council meeting such that the whole Council will have to meet again on 23 June. It would appear that this special meeting has been called for the purpose of changing the constitution so non-opposition group members can chair Overview and Scrutiny.

Whilst it was apparent the purpose of deferring the first meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny committee was to change the constitution Liberal Democrats wanting to raise concerns were not allowed to speak on this subject.  Speaker after speaker was interrupted by the Mayor and told they could only speak about the change of meeting date.  The Deputy Chief Executive reiterated this point and tried to close down debate.

On the vote all Conservative councillors present supported the deferral of the first meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Now the wait until Monday 23 June to find out what the Conservatives are planning.