In last week’s leading letter, Brian Caldicutt expressed admirably and
comprehensively the reasons why so many of us feel frustrated at the way the Herefordshire county council is run.
I will not repeat in detail my earlier description of the way that council business was conducted before the infamous cabinet system was introduced. Sufficient to say that the system then allowed every councillor the right, in full Council, to question decisions made in the various committees and, with the support of fellow-councillors, to amend or even defeat them. Now, it appears, the Lords in Cabinet make all the decisions and hard-working members, including our own local representatives, appear powerless to change them. Indeed, one wonders if they are even made aware of these decisions before they are implemented.
This, as Mr. Caldicutt points out, is the very negation of democracy.
Many of the councillors whom we have elected to speak for us appear no longer to have a voice, which means that we,the voters of Herefordshire, no longer have any say in decisions which affect our finances, our environment and the education of our children. It is lunacy that in Herefordshire - arguably one of the least wealthy counties in the country – the council’s Chief Executive should rank in the list of the top ten highest paid, and not by any means at the bottom of that list.
Until Mr. Caldicutt revealed it, I am sure that many of us were unaware
that we do, in fact, have the power to curb the power of the ruling elite, the Cabinet members. If ten percent of us petition for the Cabinet system to be dissolved, the law allows for this – so let’s get that petition underway and bring democracy back to the county.