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Calls for More Openness in the Budget Process

09 February, 2001 Liberal Democrat Councillors have called on the Conservative’s to come clean about their Budget, which was revealed at this week’s Cabinet meeting. It follows complaints in previous weeks that the Conservative’s are using the new political structure to hide their budget proposals from the public.

In the budget papers that were issued this week, only 4 pages are dedicated to the impact of the budget on local services. This compares to previous years when detailed service plans were produced for public scrutiny.

Liberal Democrat finance spokesperson, Cllr Wyn Evans, has called on the Conservative administration to release more detailed proposals. He said:

"There are already concerns that the Conservative’s are attempting to use the new one-party cabinet system to get proposals through on the sly. These budget papers will only reinforce that image.
"It is simply scandalous to set out the impact of their proposals for a £128 million budget in a four page summary. This is not the way the Council presented its proposals in the past, and it should not be the way it does so now.

"We have already expressed our concern that the Conservative’s have taken their time in putting together their budget. In the past, proposals came forward much earlier for consideration but this year, they have delayed the publication until late January.

"This leaves local organisations and key services such as schools practically less than one month to consider the proposals and influence the outcome. It is far from satisfactory."

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