We now have more democracy

Under Labour control, Bury Council has extended local democracy by:

Opening every council and committee meeting with a half hour set aside for members of the public to ask questions;

Setting up area boards for Bury East, Bury West, Prestwich, Radcliffe, Ramsbottom and Tottington, Whitefield and Unsworth to give people more say on the decisions which directly affect their locality;

Setting up an executive committee which consists of three opposition councillors plus the eight Labour members of the council's Cabinet. It is the executive committee, meeting in public, which makes most of the decisions;

Publicising the agendas for the council's Cabinet in advance of the meetings so that all 48 members of the council, plus the press, know what is under consideration before recommendations go to executive committee for decision;

Awarding the chairmanship of two of the five council scrutiny and review panels to opposition councillors (one Tory, one Lib-Dem); Awarding the chairmanship of the council's standards and probity committee, which has the power to investigate the conduct of councillors, to the leader of the opposition (Councillor David Higgin, Tory);

Drawing as many people as we can into Bury's Community Plan which will be the basis for the council's policies (together with the manifesto of the majority party) in future years.

So far as regulating the taxi trade is concerned, if Mr Wright thinks regulations are unnecessary he is even further out of touch on that issue than he is on local democracy. The public need, and want, taxi services which are reliable and safe, which is what regulation is intended to ensure.

I would suggest, in conclusion, that if Mr Wright's letter is based on his own assessment rather than the garbled messages coming out of Tory central office, then he should drop the pen name "Ultra Vires" and substitute "Non Compus Mentis".

COUNCILLOR DEREK BODEN,

leader of the council.