Latest news with #councilmeetings
News24
2 days ago
- Politics
- News24
Tshwane speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana survives motion of no confidence
Tshwane speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana survived a motion of no confidence on Thursday. The motion was brought by the DA, who accused the African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor of being partisan and of ruling based on his emotions. DA Tshwane caucus leader Cilliers Brink said his 'discriminatory behaviour' had reached a point where 'parties outside of the governing coalition do not have a fair say or hearing, for that matter, in council meetings'. Ndzwanana survived the vote with 114 against the motion, 82 for the motion, and 1 abstaining from the vote.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Over-running meeting webcasts cost Aberdeen City Council £12,000
Over-running and extra council meetings in Aberdeen have cost the local authority nearly £12,000 in additional webcasting costs over the past two years.A report to go before councillors on Wednesday will call on them to review proposals to address the amount of adjourned, reconvened and requisitioned City Council is looking to address the issue due to the costs of the extra meetings having to be called, and sessions regularly running into new days or beyond their allocated time. Concerns have been raised about the impact this has on the council's ability to conclude business, and on councillors' and officials' time. Aberdeen City Council has a £26,691-a-year contract for webcasts - based on 120 live between the 2023 financial year and the end of 2024/25 the live streams went 173 hours over cost the council an additional £11,882 over that period, a cost of £68.68 per have called 13 special or requisitioned meetings over the past report suggests "this could be managed better".
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Reform UK councils in ‘shambles' as newly elected councillors fail to show up
Reform UK gained control of nine councils and minority control in three more in May's local elections, but opposition councillors claim the party's organisation and productivity have been a "shambles" since. Across the 12 Reform -controlled councils, 33 meetings have been cancelled or postponed in the first nine weeks since the election, and at least 21 Reform councillors have missed their first meetings. In Kent, nine out of 22 scheduled meetings have been cancelled since the election, including legally required meetings like the governance and audit committee. An opposition councillor in Kent, Rich Lehmann, said the cancellations were "shocking" and questioned Reform 's ability to lead the council, while Sam Smith, leader of the Conservatives in Nottinghamshire, called the start "shambolic." Reform UK councillors have reportedly cancelled meetings to reschedule them when more prepared, while Nottinghamshire Council's new Reform leader Mick Barton dismissed the criticisms as "political rhetoric from the opposition."
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Reform-led councils in ‘paralysis' as dozens of meetings cancelled in first weeks
Councils taken over by Reform UK have been left in a state of 'paralysis' as dozens of key meetings are cancelled and newly elected councillors fail to show up. Nigel Farage's party won huge victories in May's local council elections, gaining control of nine councils and minority control in a further three. However, opposition councillors have claimed organisation and productivity have been a 'shambles' since the election, with some claiming the Reform representatives 'do not know what they're doing'. Across the 12 Reform-controlled councils, 33 meetings have been cancelled or postponed within the first nine weeks since the election. Additionally, at least 21 Reform councillors have missed their first meetings, despite the majority of these only having had one meeting to attend in their first month. The worst-affected councils are Kent and Nottinghamshire, where Reform holds 57 and 39 seats respectively. In Kent, nine out of the 22 meetings - 40 per cent - scheduled have been cancelled since the election up to July 4. That compares to just 15 per cent in 2024. These include legally required meetings such as the governance and audit committee, a crucial part of local government structures, ensuring accountability and transparency of the council's finances. Other meetings, such as the police and crime panel, were cancelled as membership of the committee was yet to be confirmed - something opposition councillors say suggests their Reform counterparts 'are not ready or prepared' for their roles. In Nottinghamshire, four of the 10 meetings scheduled had been cancelled in the first nine weeks. These include the governance and ethics committee and the overview committee, which is responsible for scrutinising the operation of the chief executive's department. Opposition councillor in Kent, Rich Lehmann, said the cancellations were 'shocking' and made him question whether Reform was capable of leading the council. 'Reform did better than anyone expected, and clearly better than they expected as well,' he told The Independent. 'There's a general feeling among opposition councillors that a number of elected councillors are not ready or able to attend committee meetings that take place during the day. 'The fact they've not even named who is sitting on committees suggests they are having trouble filling committee places and that's why they're being cancelled. 'No one knows what's going on. There's a lot of confusion.' Kent is the home of Reform UK's first Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) unit, which has been set up to look at 'wasteful spending' in councils. The announcement on Sunday evening came as a surprise to many councillors, Mr Lehmann said, who claimed the move was a 'barrage of distraction' from the 'paralysis' the council is in. It is understood that Reform UK councillors have chosen to cancel meetings with the intention of rescheduling them once they are more prepared. It is also understood that as the meetings were scheduled by the previous administration, they were not scheduled to the new Reform council's timetable. In Nottinghamshire, the opposition Conservative group said the cancellations had sparked 'serious concerns about leadership, accountability, and the future of local service'. 'This is a shambolic start from Reform,' said Sam Smith, leader of the Conservatives. 'Scrapping every key meeting in their first full month in charge is not only reckless—it's dangerous. This puts public services at risk and shows just how unprepared Reform really are.' He added: 'There's no excuse for this. They should be in their offices, speaking to officers, and getting to grips with their jobs. Instead, the car park is empty, and the council is effectively leaderless. This is what happens when you elect people who had no plan and no idea what the job involved.' While local councils are independent bodies responsible for their own decisions, it is understood that the government expects them to operate within the law and to hold meetings in order to deliver for residents. Kent County Council said some meetings, such as planning committees, were scheduled on an 'if required' basis, and were cancelled because there were no applications requiring an immediate decision. A spokesperson said: 'Regarding the changes to the meeting calendar, a number of meetings were squeezed into June due to the election and induction period preventing them from being held in May as would be the case in a non-election year. Because there are no time-sensitive issues due at these June meetings, consideration is being given to deferring business to relevant July meetings to make best use of member and officer time.' The Independent contacted Nottinghamshire Council's new Reform leader Mick Barton for comment. He did not respond but told Local Democracy Reporters the comments are 'political rhetoric from the opposition'. He said: "That's absolute nonsense. We've only been here three weeks. We're still setting policies, we're having weekly cabinet meetings with officers to find out what we're going to be doing going forward."
BBC News
03-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Medway Council cabinet to take public questions for first time
Medway Council will begin offering members of the public an opportunity to question councillors during cabinet local authority will allocate 20 minutes for public questions on every cabinet agenda in a six-month pilot project to offer more interactions with residents, starting with Tuesday's the public could only ask questions at full council council can reject questions that are frivolous, defamatory, offensive, or not related to a matter for which it has responsibility, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The council administration will answer as many questions as it can within the allotted time and any left unanswered will receive a written must submit questions via the council's website at least three working days before a meeting.
