A COUNCIL has been accused of stymieing democracy after a recommendation to stop councillors adding new items to meeting agendas without prior permission was approved.

Richmondshire District Council’s audit, governance and standards committee voted in favour of the recommendation to require any councillors who wish to add items to an agenda, and have any subsequent reports from officers drawn up, to request consent from the chairman of the relevant committee.

The recommendation is still to be approved by full council later this month, but members of the Conservative-led administration said the move was to ensure officers’ time was used more efficiently – and that members could continue to freely add a Notice of Motion to the full council agenda.

However, some councillors felt the move would remove their right as elected members to raise matters of concern.

Councillor John Robinson said he was totally opposed to it and Cllr Stuart Parsons said there had been so few instances of items being put on agendas in the past that he did not understand the problem.

He said: “The right to place an item on an agenda since 2008 has been used seven times – just one a year – and out of seven, two have required an officer’s report.

“I would suggest this committee needs to consider having a review of what could happen in the future – it looks like an attempt to gain absolute political control.”

But members of the Conservative group denied this was the case and said it was a way of saving officers’ time.

Cllr Sam Gibbs said: “I don’t think it has anything to do with party politics because committee chairmen are not all made up from one group.”

However Conservative councillors act as chairmen of all council committees except overview and scrutiny group one, which is chaired by the independent councillor Russell Lord.

Cllr Linda Curran said: “It is not just about the democracy of councillors having their say – we are here to represent our community, whether we are in the ruling group or the opposition.

“If we are unable to raise issues that have come from the public, it is a very sad day for the council.”

Cllr Caroline Thornton-Berry said she hope members would trust in the chairmen’s decisions.

“If there is an issue that really affects people and the chairman can be convinced it is an important matter then it will be discussed," she said.