Today was the Cumbria County Council "Full Council" meeting. All 84 Councillors come together to discuss and decide (Well that's the theory) The agenda didn't have anything about the recent problems with snow, ice and gritting and the Liberal Democrat group proposed a motion to introduce this subject. We proposed that the Council offer an apology for the problems of the last few weeks, whilst making it clear that this was no reflection on the dedication and hard work of our staff. Local Councillor Tom Clare made a very reasonable speech in which he asked that we look at the issue of grit bins, and why they were not all filled. He also wanted us to look at the possibility of greater co-operation with Parish and Town Councils. Trevor Allison then asked that we clarify the position regarding the liability of Town Councils who clear their pavements. We'd deliberately decided to make a low key presentation in the hope that we could avoid political shenanigans and reach an agreement, which we fully expected.
Unfortunately ------the Conservative/Labour administration voted to cut short the debate in favour of having lunch (!) and voted down the motion to apologise. An opportunity lost, in which we could have united to make things better for the people of Cumbria. All in all, it wasn't a very edifying morning and not a very impressive display of "democracy" at work.
