The Call to Action was discussed at a recent Council “Oversight and Scrutiny Committee” meeting. MCFly asked the committee why the six-months public consultation promised in February 2008 had been replaced by the as yet undefined “Proud Of” campaign.
Vicky Rosin, the Assistant Chief Executive stated that: “What we decided is to bring forward a number of actions and show real leadership from the council. Consulting on the actions we intend to take forward is not something that's part of our exercise as consultation means we are prepared to change it and we intent absolutely on taking this action forward.”
Richard Cowell, the Executive member for the Environment also added that: “Yes, we've set a firm direction of where we want to go, we're not going to carry on [sic] consulting getting nowhere.”
So, now that the nine “catalytic actions” have been decided, the Council appears unwilling to take onboard any genuine public input (including on the controversial Green Airport). However, in off-the-record discussions, councillors and officers said they were keen to talk to selected green groups. Cynics may infer a 'divide and conquer' strategy at work here. Time will tell...
To quote the Call to Action (p.4)- “the Council hopes that intensive work to get action under way in Spring 2009 will help to create a buzz around the Call to Action and generate a vigorous debate on the proposals.” They just haven't said how yet.
Addendum: If you want to get involved in writing the "Call to Real Action", click here for further info.
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