Opposition leaders angry as council holds just three meetings in six months

Following a cancellation, only three meetings of a county council will take place in the last six months of 2025, prompting an opposition councillor to claim the cabinet is “shutting down scrutiny and debate”.

Following the cancellation of this week’s meeting of full council, by Christmas the authority will only have held meetings in July, September and December .

The situation has caused outrage and concern among opposition leaders, keen to ensure their residents voices are heard at a key time of year when matters such as council tax and the council budget are under consideration.

But the council has responded, saying there is ‘no requirement for the council to meet monthly’ and ‘no business was scheduled to be transacted’ in November – hence the cancellation.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Andrew Parkhurst accused the Labour-led coalition cabinet of attempting to hide away from scrutiny.

“I find it deplorable that the Labour-led administration seems bent on shutting down scrutiny and debate, particularly at a time when the council is facing unprecedented financial pressures and cuts to essential services,” he said.

“In August, we had to resort to using the requisition process to call a special meeting of full council to prevent the imminent closure of the remaining public toilets in Holywell, Mold and Talacre.

“Audit Wales has previously highlighted the need for Flintshire’s councillors to be more proactive in ensuring matters of public interest are fully discussed. It is therefore not acceptable that the administration chooses to ignore the advice of its regulator but instead wishes to stifle proper debate.”

The leader of Flintshire People’s Voice, Cllr Sam Swash, said the decision to cancel November’s meeting had come as a surprise to group leaders.

“I have serious concerns about the increasingly infrequent nature of full council meetings in Flintshire,” he said. “The decision to cancel the November meeting was taken by officers without any consultation with group leaders, and, remarkably, without offering any explanation at all. That lack of transparency is simply unacceptable.

“Flintshire People’s Voice had submitted a number of motions and questions on notice for that meeting, as had other groups. There was clearly substantial business to be debated and decided.

“I would note that this comes in addition to members of Flintshire’s ruling coalition voting a number of times in the past 18 months to end council meetings, leaving important agenda items undiscussed. Taken together, these actions amount to a sustained erosion of democratic standards in Flintshire.

“Put simply, residents deserve a council that is open, accountable, and willing to debate issues in public  – not one that avoids scrutiny and shuts down discussion.”

Democratic balance

Meanwhile the leader of the True Independents group, Cllr Carol Ellis, said she had serious concerns about the democratic balance. Her group is currently waiting for full council to ratify some new members to allow them to take part in scrutiny.

“Meetings are cancelled – by the ruling Labour/Independent Cabinet I assume –  without any consultation. The opposition are not even given a reason.

“Our group are awaiting the adjustment of the political balance as we have new members. This means we cannot sit on scrutiny committees we may be entitled to until there is a meeting of full council.

“Last year we went for months without being included on scrutiny, therefore were unable to fully represent our residents concerns.”

Despite Cllr Swash’ assertion that members had submitted items of business for November’s meeting, a Flintshire County Council spokesperson said the meeting had been cancelled as there was no business to be taken care of.

Requirements

“The schedule of meetings for all council meetings for the following municipal year is agreed at Flintshire County Council’s Annual General Meeting in May each year,” the spokesperson said.

“It is based around the functions and duties which the council is required to exercise, with meetings of committees (including full council) scheduled to reflect these. This does mean that some will meet more frequently than others. The number of full council meetings varies from council to council.

“Like many other local authorities, Flintshire County Council operates a ‘leader and a cabinet model’ to exercise functions. Full council elects a leader who, in turn, appoints and chairs the cabinet where each cabinet member has a specific area of responsibility. The cabinet meets regularly so decisions are made quickly.

“Full council is responsible for the specific functions as listed in section 4.6 – Functions of the Full Council within the Council Constitution. The schedule of meetings takes account these functions and sets the timetable for full council to meet in order that they can be discharged effectively.

“There is no requirement for full council to meet monthly. We do include several provisional meeting dates in the Schedule of Meetings for Full Council where there is a ‘gap’ between scheduled meetings in case any business does need to be considered. In the case of the provisional date for the full council meeting in November, no business was scheduled to be transacted and so the date was released from the calendar.

“Although there is no formal ‘recess’ for the council, meetings are not usually scheduled to take place during August. This is a historic arrangement due to this month traditionally being the most popular time for annual leave to be taken.”