(Image: LDRS)
Darlington councillors backed plans to slash the length of often overrunning meetings during a five-hour council session.
Proposals were backed at Darlington Borough Council's full council meeting on Thursday (September 24) following a debate lasting more than 35 minutes.
It follows a two-year review which concluded council meetings should spend more time discussing major issues facing the borough and less time on lengthy reports and procedural matters.
Darlington council meetings routinely run late into the night and are among the longest in the region. By comparison, Durham County Council has a limit of two and a half hours for its full council meetings.
Under the changes, a single update from the council leader followed by a question session will replace reports from cabinet members.
Questions from the public and councillor motions will also be subject to time limits with the aim of bringing meetings closer to three hours in length.
Conservative councillor Jonathan Dulston opposed the changes on the grounds of accountability, saying: “We are told these changes will strengthen accountability and public participation, yet the changes that take effect immediately would give councillors and residents less opportunity to challenge the Labour administration in public.
“Labour should have the confidence to defend the decisions under questioning, allow councillors and members of the public to follow up when answers fall short, and give residents a meaningful chance to speak. This report does not do that.”
Reform UK councillor Michael Walker also questioned plans to restrict public question sessions to 30 minutes, saying it could lead to "a waste of journey" for residents.
Leader of the council, Steve Harker, said the current format of meetings was no longer effective.
“We had spent quite a lot of time over a couple of years looking into this," he said.
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“I don’t know any other council that has full council meetings at that length. We have lost focus on what a full council meeting is about.
“We are trying to reduce the overall length of the meetings because we cannot sit there for six hours and be productive as a council for all that time.”
The report was backed by 31 votes to 11, with three abstentions.