COUNCILS all over the country are undergoing the biggest organisational changes in more than 25 years.

Blackburn with Darwen council's important and controversial eight strong cabinet met last night in public for the first time.

Our Local Government reporter PAUL BARRY was there and gives his personal view of what went on.

THE HUNDREDS of people who protested when Blackburn with Darwen Council announced its intention to meet behind closed doors were absent when the eight-strong Labour cabinet met in public for the first time last night.

The cabinet's second meeting at Blackburn Town Hall was open to all after the council's ruling Labour group responded to public criticism of its plans to make policy recommendations behind closed doors.

The irony of the low turnout was not lost on council leader Malcolm Doherty, who opened by remarking on the public gallery where just three people -- one of them a councillor --were watching.

Some might blame the apathy on the meeting's start time -- 45 minutes before England's most important football match for two years -- but I can't imagine many more coming next time.

I have been to plenty of council meetings, many of them the scene of heated political debate. But watching eight councillors from the same party explaining ideas to sympathetic colleagues made this one exceptionally dull. Last night's issues were far from controversial -- they were either broad plans on how the council could do things better, or proposals which have already been publicised. The only exception was a speech from Coun Sue Reid warning against any moves by the Government to stop councils running social services.

The cabinet met in a medium-sized conference room adorned by ornately-framed windows and paintings of distinguished-looking town hall chiefs from yesteryear.

The eight "super-councillors" -- who prefer to be called "executive board members" -- were joined by leading council officers who sat with them around simple tables arranged in a square. Other council staff sat on a back table, silently taking notes.

Council business may not be entertaining, but its importance should not be overlooked. The cabinet will be have to consider important issues in the coming months, and from next year should be able to take decisions by itself. The key counterbalance will be the fledgling policy and review committee -- a politically balanced scrutiny panel with a Labour chairman which can refer decisions back to the cabinet after they are taken.

Labour councillors may be bemused by last night's poor attendance, especially after so many people claimed that private meetings were undemocratic.

Few of the 900 people who signed a petition against private meetings will ever spend a night at the town hall. Most hard-working taxpayers have other things to do with their evenings. But councils take important decisions which affect people's lives and I would encourage anyone interested in the working of local democracy to go along and see for themselves.