Parking review now delayed until April!!

Confusion has reigned throughout the week over whether Shropshire Council would go ahead with its parking review at the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee yesterday afternoon. I had complained that the paperwork had not been published and there would be no time to study it and hold local discussions. Discussions led to me believing that the review would be delayed until the March meeting. But then I was told the review would go ahead as planned on Wednesday. There was still no paperwork. Just before 5pm on Tuesday, more than 130 pages of paperwork were quietly published. Before I had time to download them, Shropshire Council’s committee server went offline. There was no access to any committee papers until 11am the next morning. With the committee meeting beginning at 2pm, I could only skim read the papers while on the train to Shrewsbury. I needn’t have bothered.

We had already arranged for a point of order at the beginning of the committee complaining that no one had time to read the paperwork in detail. That was made by Roger Evans, who also complained that late publication of paperwork is becoming the norm at Shropshire Council. This means it is often not possible to have an informed debate.

However, the committee chair Claire Wilde pre-empted him. She said the committee needed time to study the paperwork. She asked the committee if it would agree to deferring the review until a later meeting. Not until March but until April at a date to be set. The committee unanimously agreed to this. That meant that Deputy Mayor Robin Pote and I had travelled to Shirehall for nothing. But at least the review did not take place with members not having had time to study the paperwork.