April LA Council Meeting

Beginning with the end, I report that the most notable feature of the Council Meeting on 17 April 1986 was that it finished before lunch. It is evident, as pointed out by Max Broome, Chairman of the Executive Committee, that in their efforts to avoid tediously lengthy meetings Council has bent over too far backwards, and the correct balance in application of the starring system has not yet been achieved. He revealed that only one item had been starred for discussion on the request of a Council member and few were starred by the Committees. After the meeting several Council members were expressing their unease about the situation notwithstanding that they had not exercised their privilege to star items. It may be that some might think particular topics should be aired without necessarily wishing to start the discussion themselves, but that still does not excuse inaction. Council must give clearer guidelines to Committee members and Chairmen as, for example, that all items must be starred if they have resource implications, especially continuing expenditure, substantially outside the current Estimates, also all matters affecting the byelaws or changes of policy that are likely to prove sensitive to the membership. As matters stand, unless Committees adopt a more generous interpretation of what merits open debate, Council runs a strong risk of becoming an extremely expensive rubber stamp.