EACH week the town’s two MPs, Warrington South’s David Mowat and Helen Jones in Warrington North, bring you a round-up of what they have been up to.

This week Mr Mowat talks about local democracy.

EARLIER this summer I witnessed genuine local democracy taking place.

The venue was the Town Hall chamber and the subject under discussion was the proposal to close Sandy Lane Tip.

A few weeks beforehand, Labour-run Warrington Borough Council had made a decision to close the facility in Stockton Heath, taking very little regard of local opinion.

That could have been that, but a Liberal Democrat councillor exercised his right to have the decision scrutinised by a council committee.

So it was that I found myself, along with a large number of local residents, watching the scrutiny committee meeting.

Too often these meetings are unedifying, with a vote to approve the decision being divided down party lines.

But this time was different. A succession of councillors popped up to ask difficult, searching and well-informed questions of the council leadership.

When had this decision been taken? Why hadn’t the council taken more time to consult?

What was the basis for the evidence that was being supplied? Not just opposition councillors either – a number of Labour councillors also had concerns.

Instead of the usual “rubber-stamp” vote, the committee instead voted to force the executive board to go back, consult properly and come forward with new proposals.

Last week, the council quietly slipped out a report from the executive board member in charge of waste.

That report recommended that the executive board no longer proceed with plans to close Sandy Lane Tip.

It was clear from the outset that this plan was poorly conceived and taken forward without proper consultation.

But there was still a risk that it would sail through without scrutiny.

You may well argue that this is the job that local councillors are paid to do, but it still requires a degree of bravery from a councillor to stand up and say “hang on a minute, you haven’t got this right, please look again.”

It’s just a shame that examples like this are so rare they’re worth writing a newspaper column about!