Consultation the Tory way: Decision first, ask later!

Cllr David Kendall has slammed the Tories for making decisions on parking charges and issuing statements on matters before a decision is made by the council and local retailers are consulted.

Incredulously, despite there being five options on how the VAT increase could be absorbed into car parking charges, the Tories decided which option they would take and distributed a notice to retailers the day before the matter was discussed at council.

Cllr Kendall said:

"This is the usual Tory way of steamrollering things through and not listening to the views of others. They have also shown a complete lack of disregard for council procedures by not waiting for a debate at the proper panel meeting at the council."

"There are also ways to consult retailers to inform such a decision - a telephone call to a percentage of retailers could have been quickly organised and allow councillors to make decisions.

"Sadly, this is what we have come to expect."