Secrecy clauses threaten your right to council scrutiny

LOCAL news is the first line of defence against corruption in public life.

- Owen Meredith

Dark day for democracy if Parliament presses ahead with obscuring transparency

Across the country, thousands of journalists hold power to account — uncovering truths that decision-makers might prefer to keep hidden. And as more and greater powers are devolved by central government reform, this scrutiny will become even more important.

In particular, council taxpayers must have full oversight of any plans to change how their local authority operates, and how money is spent. Yet despite this, a provision within the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, currently in the House of Lords, threatens to reduce scrutiny rather than strengthen it.

What on the face of it may appear minor technical provisions — removing the requirement under the Local Government Act for communities to be notified of changes to a council’s governance structure through a public notice in a local newspaper — are in fact an assault on the public’s right to know.

Instead of openness and transparency through an independent news environment, councils would be free to flag such changes “in a manner they think appropriate”, meaning such decisions could be kept secret or buried on council websites.