Monday 27 June 2011

Town Councillors Gagged

Tenbury Town Councillors were reminded by the Mayor at tonight's meeting that they should not discuss Council business with the press.

If they had anything to say on any matter it should be said in the Council Chamber and minuted.

These aren't new rules, but she felt now was a good time to remind Cllrs of their responsibilities.

With several potentially contentious issues affecting the town it was important that any requests from the press should be referred to the Town Clerk.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely people are entitled to know what Councillors are saying? If WR15 is not allowed to hear this, how will we know what is happening?
At least Margaret would always tell you what she thought.
I bet Councillors will be willing to talk at election time.

Ian said...

I suppose the problem is that the press (and thus the reader) can’t always make a distinction between a councillor speaking for him or herself and a councillor purporting to speak on behalf of the Council. Personally, provided the councillor makes it clear in what capacity s/he is speaking, I can’t see that there’s a serious problem. The presumption should always be for openness and freedom of speech.

Bumblebee said...

I wonder if that's the nub then.. That town councilors have spoken about their own preferences on scenarios in the past - only to be quoted as though it was the 'official line' of TTC?