A long meeting tonight, even more so because of the Council’s YouTube feed being abruptly suspended half an hour in because the Council was ‘violating YouTube’s Terms of Service’.
Well done to the team behind the petition for a children’s Splash Pad for Ely in getting well over 1,200 local signatures – I hope this gets active support and encouragement.
A motion by the Liberal Democrats to support moves for encouraging a market in community renewable energy, and another one stating that Black Lives Matter, were clearly too much for Conservative councillors who kicked them into the long grass of two different council committees rather than standing up and being counted.
By contrast, Liberal Democrats co-operated to support a Tory motion on the dangers of helium balloons and sky lanterns.
I asked a question about the Council’s plans for Mepal Outdoor Centre, which was stated not to be a priority just a few weeks before it was set on fire. I was told that this would be considered by the Council ‘very shortly’.
The Conservatives’ Corporate Plan was subjected to some rigorous challenge from the Liberal Democrat team, including on ‘affordable’ housing that isn’t really, and the need for greater ambition on the environment.
Somewhat taken aback to hear a Conservative councillor tell us “It’s really good to see the work going on at the Witchford roundabout now” – which is certainly not what local residents have been telling me after three days of chaos!
Some determined efforts by the Lib Dem team to get the Council to send back the financial report about the effect of COVID-19 on the Council’s finances, because of the quite incredible paucity of information in them. We asked for recorded votes on these very important issues. Props to Cllrs Alison Whelan and Charlotte Cane for some significant and well-informed contributions to this debate.
We opposed (unsuccessfully) a constitutional amendment that proposed amendments to the Council budget should be submitted at least 24 hours in advance. While this sounds sensible, it ignores the experience of councils where there is no one party in total control of the council, and where budget amendments can be negotiated at the last minute and there’s a deadline which mustn’t be breached for setting a legal budget.
And Cllr Alison Whelan asked a very sensible question about the Combined Authority’s risk register (75 per cent red on the red/amber/green scale) and what East Cambridgeshire District Council’s risk register looked like and what we could learn from the Combined Authority’s experience, which was brushed aside.
The meeting started at 6:00PM and concluded well after 10:00PM.