"Conservative Roadshow" at council tax payers' expense
The town's Lib Dem leader, Cllr David Kendall, has questioned the Conservative Leader's move to take only Conservative councillors around the borough on a series of road shows, effectively freezing out opposition members.
Although there may be a "Meet the Leaders" event at the council offices in November, at the suggestion of Cllr Kendall, which will also include Labour leader Cllr Mike Le Surf, Council Leader, Cllr Mrs Louise McKinlay will first take her committee chairs on a series of road shows around the borough to meet the public. However, the Liberal Democrat group say that this disenfranchises those who did not vote for the Conservative party.
Cllr Kendall said:
"The local Conservatives would do well to remember that they received less than half the votes cast in the most recent elections and that more than half of voters gave their support to other parties. The Liberal Democrats alone achieved 30% of the vote, so we feel we should have the opportunity to answer to our residents too.
"Brentwood Council is made up of the three major parties and an independent member all voted for by our residents and I feel they deserve to hear from all those who represent them.
"Clearly, there will be costs and staff resources involved in such an event so this rather looks like a Conservative party election campaign financed with council tax payers' money."