RA Vote Against Public Question Time

Residents had their say when 86% of respondents to our survey in Autumn 2010 said that a public question time was either "very important" or "important". At a meeting of the borough council on 15th February all RA councillors voted against changing meetings of the council from July 2011 to accommodate questions from members of the public.

Liberal Democrats have been keen to introduce a system based on the lines of a public question time at Local Commiteee meetings, which is proven to work well. Had the RA Residents' Party agreed, residents would have been able to submit questions in writing in advance, which would then receive a written reply. They would also have been able to turn up on the night and ask any question (on council business) with all 38 councillors present. At the Local Committee, half an hour is allocated for the purpose and the procedure runs smoothly and most importantly, is well used by members of the public.

Cllr Jonathan Lees told the meeting "Do we have something to hide? If not, then we should introduce this. Nine other councils in Surrey have this ... we risk being in the minority."

Liberal Democrats have spent almost 20 years trying to make the council's decision-making more transparent, change the rules so that residents can ask questions at meetings and reduce bureaucracy. Their first success was when members of the public were allowed to speak at meetings of the Planning Committee. Then came agreement that residents could address Policy Committees for 3 minutes. The main drawback here is that members of the public can only ask a question or make comments on an item which is already on the agenda of the meeting. A question time at full council meetings would not be so restrictive and not have to be relevant to subject matter on any agenda.

The RA voted in favour of looking further into the matter of a question time as part of a wider review sometime in the future.