Southwark Labour have proposed changes to the protocol councillors have to follow else they received sanctions.

Amazingly counter democratic proposal “…members (except when accessing services as a residents of  the borough) should always advise the relevant chief officer in advance of such visits”.

Sounds innocuous  enough but it would mean council would always be prepared for visits. Little opportunity to really tests services. It also precludes helping residents in person when they need. Help as we wouldn’t be able to brief the chief officers in advance.

See the reports  page 24. The Labour chair said many things including “I don’t see any problems with these changes.”

After an awful lot of hassling Labour they finally agreed for office to review the proposals again. Hopefully Labour will be shamed into something much more democratic.