Members of the public are being encouraged to hold Adur and Worthing Councils to account.
Both chairs of the authorities’ joint overview and scrutiny committee (JOSC) have called on residents to hold the councils to account and be ‘at the heart of decision making’.
The committee exists to scrutinise decisions made by council leaders and executive members and it can summon these councillors to explain why decisions may have been taken — similar to the role played by Parliamentary Select Committees in Westminster, but on a local scale.
Members of the public can get involved by submitting questions and requests to the committee which is next due to meet on September 16.
Arun District Council’s JOSC chair Joss Loader (Ind, Marine) said:
“Effective scrutiny is crucial to thriving democracy and our role as a watchdog is to act as a critical friend so that the best possible decisions are made for our residents.
“This is even more important now given that the pandemic has made recovery programmes absolutely vital.
“If these last two years have taught us anything it is that we all have a role to play and a say in the future shape of our communities.”
Charles James (Con, Durrington), who is Worthing chairman of JOSC, said that the committee has ‘enormous potential to influence and inform decisions’.
He added:
“If an issue matters to the public, then it matters to us, so I ask that anyone who has a potential topic to be placed under wider public scrutiny to get in touch.”
This comes after the JOSC released its annual report which notes that the last year has been ‘unusual’ but that the committee continued to scrutinise issues which ‘could make the most impact’.
According to the report, just 16 public scrutiny requests were made between 2020 and 2021.
Deputy leader of Worthing Borough Council’s Labour group and JOSC member Carl Walker (Lab, Selden) expressed concerns over the effectiveness of the committee.
He said:
“While it is good to see the council seeking more public involvement in scrutiny, there are some serious problems with the way that scrutiny is done in Adur and Worthing.
“Scrutiny should be there to strengthen the policies we develop and the decision making of the council so that we better serve the people of Adur and Worthing.
“Unfortunately, the current JOSC scrutiny group at Adur and Worthing is not fit for purpose and repeatedly fails to adequately scrutinise the decisions of the councils.”
He claims that Adur and Worthing JOSC members ‘vote against reports they wrote themselves’ and ‘vote along party lines’.
Mr Walker added:
“We [members] all know it’s not a good committee. To be a good council we need good scrutiny, because good scrutiny leads to good policy making.
“Public involvement is extremely important in scrutiny but the committee needs to get its act together before wasting public time.”
The JOSC discusses issues such as waste collection, housing repairs, food poverty and the de-carbonisation of council houses but it has no powers to scrutinise planning and licensing decisions.
More information about the committee and information on submitting requests and asking questions can be found here: https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/scrutiny/
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