'What are you afraid of?' Reform group is accused of dodging questions

PROPOSALS FOR TIME LIMITS ARE VOTED DOWN

- By LAUREN MONAGHAN Local democracy reporter

COUNCILLORS have slammed Nottinghamshire’s Reform UK group as “antidemocratic” after they attempted to limit the time allowed for questions during meetings.

The claims followed a cross-party effort to change how full council meetings are conducted under the authority's constitution, which was discussed by Nottinghamshire County Council’s governance and ethics committee on Wednesday March 4.

After Reform won May 2025's local elections, a cross-party group was set up to assess the constitution’s effectiveness and see if any changes could help “streamline” decision-making in council meetings.

In Wednesday's meeting, a set of new proposals for full council meetings was put forward, including reducing the overall time for council questions from 60 minutes to 45 minutes, cutting the 60-minute time for motions in half, and reducing the time council members spend debating a meeting item.

These proposals were supported by the Reform committee members, with the committee chair, Councillor Wendy Lukacs (Ref), calling them more “businesslike’, helping council business get done faster and ensuring all topics are discussed.

But a key element of the plans, which drew criticism from opposition members, was to remove the verbal supplementary question during question time and replace it with a written response format outside a meeting.

Currently, council members can ask a followup supplementary question to cabinet members after they ask their original question, to gain clarification or detail on an issue or topic. As it stands, responses to original questions tend to be written by council officers, which a cabinet member then reads out. Supplementary questions allow members to hold the ruling group to account by asking followup questions they have not prepared for.