On Tuesday Bridgnorth Town Council voted in favour of a Unitary Authority for Shropshire. However, on Wednesday more anarchy reigned as unprecedented events at BDC unfolded.
A properly laid down motion was deferred by the vice-chairman using common law dating back to 1855. This prompted the County Conservative group to walk out of the meeting. There are now several complaints circulating (prinipally from the County Conservatives) about the legality of the administration’s manoeuvre. The LibDem with Progressive Independents’ motion had already been moved up the agenda after council voted 18-13 to do so. Perhaps an indication of how the ground was lying if the motion had gotten to a vote.
Our group would have also walked but for a question from Colin Taylor which was coming up later on the agenda. (See next post).
As published in the Shropshire Star, our group was unhappy about the level of debate & understanding shown by the administration. The motion was a means to allow a full & informed debate to take place. Even if the result had been exactly the same, we would have been happy.
As it turned out that debate will take place in January. Our main problem with the turn of events at this meeting was the manner in which the Vice-Chairman acted.