Shropshire Council leader's 'no public questions' proposal attacked

The council's new leader, Malcolm Pate, has put forward a proposal that would remove the right of the public to ask a question in person at the authority's meetings.

The matter will be considered by the council's political structures monitoring group this week and, if agreed, would then have to be formally passed by full council.

The proposal was revealed by Ludlow North councillor Andy Boddington in a blog post he was subsequently asked to take down by the council. It said the plans illustrated Shropshire Council's "dread of public scrutiny".

But Councillor Pate rejected the accusations and said people were using supplementary questions as a "platform" to discuss other matters.

In the deleted post, Councillor Boddington said: "Many will think it will not be worth asking a question at all, if all that happens is that it is minuted in a thick wodge of council papers. Maybe that is Malcolm Pate's intention: to discourage the public from asking questions which challenge council actions."

The council became embroiled in a row last year over the filming of a full council meeting, where members of Ludlow Campaign for Fairness had cameras wrongly confiscated.

Under the current system, the public can submit a written question and a written answer is provided. But they are then entitled to ask a "supplementary question" in person at the meeting.

Neil Richardson, for Ludlow Campaign for Fairness, called for a rethink.

He said: "When I first saw it I was a bit alarmed at what seemed like a further erosion of local democracy."

Mr Pate said: "I want to encourage people to ask questions, but when they get a written answer some people are then using it as a platform to go on about other things."

Under the plans councillors' questions will also be moved to the last agenda item.