Training Councillors

One of the consequences of the way the Local Government Act 2000 has been implemented in East Herts is that ordinary Councillors lack opportunities to become experts in particular fields. This makes informed debate and the responsibility of holding Executive Members to account very difficult.

The draft of this page is being vetted by our Legal Advisers, and will be posted as soon as possible.

One unfortunate side-effect of the establishment of the Standards Board for England in 2001 is that it has stifled open debate. I have seen colleagues suffer unnecessary stress from complaints to the Standards Board, when all they have tried to do is act in the best interests of their electors. All of my colleagues on East Herts Council are good people who give up their time to serve the community; I may think many of them have made some bad choices, but local democracy will suffer if we drive out good people and do not allow people to speak openly and without fear.

We want to make sure we do not fall foul of the law, but we also want to make sure we tell you everything you can be told, and therefore we are submitting detailed text on this website to our retained solicitors for comment before posting.