Staging a Liverpool Council meeting that lasted just three minutes was a “waste of money” according to a senior opposition member.
Members of the city’s constitutional and governance committee gathered at Liverpool Town Hall on Monday night expecting to discuss up to four items on the agenda. However, proceedings were curtailed after a mere 180 seconds.
Having deferred one item - a scheduled discussion on a report from the Independent Remuneration Panel in relation to members’ allowances - to at least next month, the five councillors present out of a total of 11 had a brief discussion on the adoption of a revised complaints procedure. One speaker, Cllr Ellie Byrne, raised a query.
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The meeting, which was formally opened at 5.01pm was closed by chair Cllr Ruth Bennett at 5.04pm. Apologies had been received from Cllr Mary Rasmussen, deputy Lord Mayor, but there were unexplained absences from three other members.
Cllr Pat Moloney was one of the few to attend for the full 180 seconds. He said there was scope for further discussion of the single matter that was up for debate last night. Cllr Moloney said: “There were a number of members that were not there last night.
“The chair should have drawn out some of the issues from the one item we did hear, there was enough meat on it for a discussion. There was only the one question, a presentation on it may have helped.”
Cllr Tom Crone, leader of the Green Party group, was late to the meeting owing to a childcare issue and was shocked to discover the discussion had ended before he arrived just after 5.05pm. He said he had points to raise on the agenda that “would have taken the length of the meeting” that transpired.
He said: “Normally you would expect a meeting like that to take at least an hour. It did look like a light agenda which indicated forward planning isn’t being done efficiently if things are being deferred at the last minute.
“I’m not sure how it ended so quickly. I spend my time going through agendas so I can contribute effectively, hiring out a room at the Town Hall and staging the meeting, for it to be that long is a waste of money.
“It seems inconceivable given the things that need attention at the council, there aren’t more governance issues being discussed.”
Currently, owing to a technical issue, Liverpool Council is unable to livestream meetings but has endeavoured to try and record full council gatherings and upload them online after they have occurred. As it stands, hybrid meetings are not permitted despite temporary legislation used during the coronavirus pandemic.
In June last year, the Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, called on the government to finally address the future of remote and hybrid council meetings. Cllr Moloney said there was “a place” for hybrid sessions in Liverpool moving forward.
He said: “Sometimes they are the only way some people can attend these meetings. You do miss out on some of the dynamic of the group setting and I personally prefer to be in the room.
“It’s important the council is seen to be engaging with things and it’s important in terms of transparency. If the democratic process is going to work properly, there needs to be scrutiny.
“It clearly didn’t work last night.”
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