Opposition councillors accuse Harborough District Council leaders of ‘democratic deficit’ as key meeting ‘quietly’ cancelled

The opposition party also says ‘a flurry of press releases’ was the first time many of its members had been made aware of several ‘crucial updates’.

They included three public consultations on the future of local government, council-owned car parks and its management of public open spaces, as well as a press release on meetings ahead of July’s Light and Life Festival.

They also claim a report by the Local Government Association on the council’s leadership, which included six recommendations for improvements, was also released ‘without their knowledge’.

Conservative Opposition leader, Cllr Simon Whelband, explained an upcoming meeting where such issues should have been discussed was ‘quietly cancelled’. He says there is a ‘democratic deficit’ in Harborough District Council.

He said: “These are some extremely important issues, and residents and businesses expect us as councillors to scrutinise these issues and be kept up-to-date and informed about decisions that are taken on their behalf. The next available opportunity to do this should have been next month at a meeting of the full council, but that meeting was quietly cancelled. The next time all councillors are meeting now won’t be until September, which isn’t good enough.

“When the Conservatives ran the council, the then opposition leader, Cllr Knowles, was extremely critical when the frequency of meetings of meetings was reduced but, now he is charge, meetings are frequently dropped or cancelled.

“There is a democratic deficit in Harborough District Council, whereby items are announced in the media, whilst councillors are kept in the dark.”

District council leader Phil Knowles has hit back at the claims, arguing that the leading coalition party has been transparent over its meeting schedule and called their accusations ‘destructive’.

He remarked: “One has to wonder, did they even read the agenda?”

According to Cllr Knowles, a schedule of meetings for 25/26 was approved during the annual council meeting and no concerns were raised at the time. He also says the car park review and open spaces strategy were both listed on scrutiny agendas last year.

He added: “They continue looking backwards by referring to a peers challenge that took place around nine months ago. This visit was followed by reference to Cabinet where all the salient points were raised and actions outlined.

“Instead of this constant flow of ongoing negativity by the Conservatives, why don’t they positively support the multi-million-pound investment we are making in our communities by way of community grants. The highly acclaimed rewilding schemes that could cover as many as 500 acres and will be a legacy for generations and the multi-million-pound investment in our leisure centres, which incidentally the former administration failed to do. It could be argued their opposition is far from constructive and bordering on destructive. It’s sad to see and the community expects better.”

He suggested their ‘ongoing negativity’ could be a way of ‘electioneering’ through the press.