The second call in against Conservative cabinet decisions in recent weeks has been upheld. Cllr Pritchard (Con, Chew Valley S) had sought to increase care charges for elderly and vulnerable people by 74%.

However, Cllr Pritchard has already said that he will ignore the panel’s recommendations, just as he ignored the concerns raised previously by the Overview and Scrutiny panel and the Full Council. Unfortunately the nature of our governmental system means that the minority Conservative cabinet is able to act exeactly as it wants without listening to the justified concerns of residents and opposition councillors. The upheld call in requires Cllr Pritchard to reconsider and justify his position, though it does not lead to a different decision.

I signed this ‘call in’ petition as I believe that it is unfair to raise so much revenue from the most vulnerable people. While the state pension has risen by 50p per day this year, meals on wheels in BathNES are now set to rise by over £1/day. However, I was disgusted to read Pritchards statement in the Chronicle, that he intended to ignore the call in process. The Conservative cabinet have lately taken to complaining about the cost of the ‘call in’ system.  However, I argue that it is not used frivolously, this is the last chance that councillors have to oppose decisions which they feel will harm the community. Further, councillors are irresponsible if they DO NOT fight bad decisions at every chance. Pritchard states that he has already heard the opposition from two Overview & Scrutiny reports and Full Council, so the call in was unnecessary. The call in would have been unnecessary if he hadn’t simply ignored the previous recommendations. Faced with an arrogant and uncaring executive though, councillors must do all that they can to protect the people they represent.