Council budget chaos!
February 23, 2006 5:11 PM
Labour are refusing to announce their budget in time. Labour's budget is expected to be full of cuts to local services
Derby City Council's budget setting appears to be in disarray as it was revealed that the Cabinet plans to give opposition councillors only 75 minutes to read the budget details before the start of the full council meeting next week.
The ruling Labour group's budget is due to be presented to a special meeting of Cabinet being called at 4:45 next Wednesday, the same day as the full council meeting, starting at 6pm. Derby City Council's constitution recommends that the budget be published five days in advance of the council meeting. This is to give councillors, the public and press the opportunity to examine the budget in detail.
Leader of the Liberal Democrat group Councillor Hilary Jones said "Giving the public and opposition councillors no more than 75 minutes to examine the final plans for next year's spending undermines the democratic process. This will make it very difficult for opposition groups to scrutinise the budget .
"It may be that the Labour Group is struggling to agree a budget, and is giving themselves as long as possible, or they have something to hide. If not why can't the budget be released in good time as it was under the Lib Dem leadership in the previous two years?"
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