WE were delighted to read in the press that all councils in England will be forced to disclose the pay and perks of their chief executives under new regulations designed to crack down on town hall “fat cats”.
Disclosure rules on all public expenditure in local government must be made much more open and transparent.
As backbench Independent councillors on Middlesbrough Council we find it frustrating and often impossible to obtain acceptable reasons for expenditure authorised, apparently often without political input, by chief officers of this council.
Middlesbrough Council states it is an open and progressive council yet refuses democratically-elected opposition councillors access to what should be freedom of information.
Councillors Ken Walker and Brian Hubbard, Independents, Middlesbrough Council.
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