Actions at meeting were showmanship
Much praise has been given to Councillor Peter Nutting, Shropshire Council Leader, for seemingly rejecting a pay increase recommended by an independent panel.
Since the press printed this, there were some criticisms, and Councillor Nutting made a great show of refusing it in public at the council meeting. Since the report was a public document, it was a piece of political showmanship to refuse the rise in this manner.
I attended the meeting, as a member of the public, and was surprised at the casual behaviour of the Conservative group in what was a key meeting, which set a council tax increase of almost six per cent whilst cutting out most services councils should provide.
When I was a councillor for 19 years on a district council, this would not have happened, even when there was no audience of the public.
I suppose in the days when several journalists reported council meetings, there was more interest in and knowledge of local democracy, the lack of which allows the policies Shropshire Council currently imposes. It is a very sad situation.
Liz Simblet, Shrewsbury
