THE LEADER of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on Cumberland Council is disappointed his proposal on transparency did not pass unchanged.

Cumberland Council met in Whitehaven on Friday to make a number of key decisions before taking over in Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland in April 2023.

And the Liberal Democrats proposed that council meetings are livestreamed online for the public.

Leader of the Lib Dems, Councillor Tim Pickstone said: “We have a very rare opportunity at the moment as elected members, one which only a small proportion of councillors have which is to set the culture and tone of a brand new local authority.

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“And our view is, at the heart of that culture needs to be a democracy which is fully open and transparent to the people of Cumberland that we’re here to represent.”

“When the video cameras are on, there’s no hiding, how we vote is 100 per cent in the public domain.”

He added that live streaming is not new and Cumbria is “behind the pace.”

The motion also proposed time is set aside at every meeting for questions by members of the public without prior written notice.

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Deputy leader of the Labour controlled council, Lisa Brown proposed an amendment to the proposal.

Cllr Brown said: “This is no disrespect because we’re in agreement here” but she said that the recommendation must come from the group tasked with producing the new authority’s constitution.

“Everything that you’ve put in the motion is the direction that we’re heading now. My fear is some of it will set us up to fail and I don’t want to do that I want to achieve everything you’ve put on there but I want that to come from the constitution group to this council and not the other way round.”

Cllr Brown’s amendment was passed with a vote and became the new wording of the proposal, which was successful.

Cllr Pickstone said that the group is disappointed the decision has been “pushed down the line.”

“We’re not giving up on this and will be continuing to pursue the highest standards of openness and public involvement in the discussions from now onwards. Hopefully it won’t be long before members of the public can watch what their councillors are up to in Cumberland like they can in most of the rest of the country”.

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