ON Tuesday, February 1, I attended Mid Devon District Council’s Cabinet meeting. (Mid Devon uses a Leader/Cabinet structure, a bit like in Government, whereby the Leader chooses a handful of Cabinet members from amongst elected members, and they are collectively responsible for various portfolios of work and decision-making).

I want to share what happened at that meeting, because amongst other things, I think it highlights how the Leader/Cabinet system of governance can be undemocratic.

The meeting was a full one, with almost 350 pages of accompanying papers to read. The meeting contained important and complex agenda items, like the 2022/23 Council budget.

Non-Cabinet Councillors are allowed to ask questions and engage in Cabinet meetings, so I and others were there to do so.

Members of the public are also allowed to ask questions (if they pre-register). The Leader chairs Cabinet meetings and is responsible for agenda items and questions being properly addressed.

The meeting ended up feeling repressive and disrespectful. A question asked by a member of the public was not read out or answered, though no reason was given. A question pre-submitted by another Councillor was not addressed either.

During the meeting, fellow Councillors and I were repeatedly interrupted by the Leader and told to limit comments to brief questions, thereby closing down discussion.

The Leader cut me off when I was asking about the effectiveness of the budget for supporting our climate work; he then put words in my mouth, resulting in Cabinet members and Officers making statements according to his words and wishes, not my thoughts and questions. There were other meetings prior to this one where we had the opportunity to raise points, and many Councillors have done. But democracy is ongoing and dynamic. Discussion and questioning is healthy, not an inconvenience.

Important items were left to the end of an over-full agenda, which meant meaningful discussion was stifled and hurried along in the name of “efficiency” (despite the Leader’s own words in an email recently saying the meeting was “arguably the most important of the year”).

To conduct discussion this way is entirely disrespectful to fellow Councillors and to the wider public, and it strengthens my sense that ironically, local government is not always a conducive place for meaningful engagement and decisions on what matters most in our places.

Cllr Elizabeth Lloyd (née Wainwright)

Sandford and Creedy Ward

Mid Devon District Council