Comment: It's not all smoke and mirrors, y'know

One of the most common complaints against local authorities is that they make decisions behind closed doors, without including the public enough, keeping them like the the proverbial mushrooms in order to impose procedures nobody agrees with.

The latest example of this is the row over the expansion of Southend Airport. The public do not feel they have been consulted enough on the issue, and those who are opposed to the expansion have accused the council of going ahead with the plans without any consideration of the negative effects the project will have on residents.

Just look at the reportage from March over the airport issue. 250 concerned residents crammed into a public meeting organised by the campaign against the airport expansion in Eastwood on 17th March. The campaign against the project, Stop Airport Extension Now, claim that Southend and Rochford councils have not listened to residents.

The truth is, however, that there has been a lenthy and in-depth public consultation about the expansion plans, which is still on-going. Claiming that the local authorities have given the public no opportunity to comment is simply not true.

Aside from the specific consultations organised by the council on this issue, the public forget two things. Firstly, we don’t generally rule by referendum on every issue in the UK. If we did that, nothing would get done. We elect councillors to make decisions about the future of our towns for us. Secondly, the public are welcome to attend a massive range of council meetings to see what is in the pipeline for the coming months. So, claiming that the airport expansion has been kept a secret from the public until it is too late is unfair; the plans have been in the public domain for months.

Currently, Southend’s public are welcome to attend the following council meetings:

Full Council

Cabinet

Cabinet Committee (traffic and parking issues)

Children & Learning Scrutiny Committee

Community Services Scrutiny Committee

Economic & Environmental Scrutiny Committee

Development Control Committee (planning matters)

Licensing Committee

Licensing Sub-Committee A,

Licensing Sub-Committee B

Licensing Sub-Committee C

Appointments & Disciplinary Committee

Appeals Committee A

Appeals Committee B

General Purposes Committee

Standards Committee

Audit Committee

Southend Adult Protection Committee

Southend Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Board

Business Ratepayers Consultative Forum

Southend Together Board

Don’t they all look thrilling?

Alternatively, you can get short, sharp and to the point reviews of important council meetings that are open to the public here on CouncilBust.