At Budget Council, the Conservative Leader of the Council, Councillor Kevin Davis, took particular exception to a request from the Liberal Democrat Opposition to be allowed to hold a special public Scrutiny Panel to look at the currently £4 million budget spend for Kingston Futures.

During the Budget Council debate, Councillor John Ayles, Liberal Democrat Finance Spokesperson said “he was amazed to find out recently that the budget spend was now in the region of £4 million and questioned how the Council could be spending that sort of money. He thought there needed to be some proper public scrutiny.”

Opposition Members should be able to scrutinise the Administration but Kingston Conservatives undemocratically axed the Scrutiny Panel shortly after taking control in 2014. During the Liberal Democrats Administration, there was a Scrutiny Panel chaired by the Conservative Opposition (ex Cllr Dennis Doe.) The Scrutiny Panel had a majority of opposition councillors on it.

Councillor Liz Green, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Group, said

“Councillor Kevin Davis got very hot and bothered at our request to take a deep dive into the budget spends of Kingston Futures. Getting very cross, he told us “we are not having a scrutiny meeting, each of the Spokespersons are paid an allowance to scrutinise with officers you should wake up and not to be so damn lazy!”

Councillor Green is currently reflecting on next steps but is determined to get to the bottom of the budget spend and to involve residents groups who have also shared concerns.

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