In last week's Guardian there was an article describing the new arrangements for the running of Warrington Borough Council from next year.

As the three Liberal Democrats who attended the council's policy and resources committee that rubber-stamped' the proposals, we would like to clarify some of the points raised.

You say that the Liberal Democrat opposition opted-out' of the decision-making cabinet.

This gives the wrong impression, because the ruling Labour group did not want any other party to be represented on the cabinet, so we had no opportunity to opt-out', even if we had wanted too.

Liberal Democrats actually agree with the Labour Party on this issue because we think our job as the opposition is to keep a check on the ruling party and propose improvements to the delivery of services.

If we were bound by collective cabinet responsibility, we would be unable to speak out.

The article states that the Liberal Democrats will chair new policy and scrutiny committees to examine cabinet decisions and hold it to account.

We think that chairing the scrutiny committee is exactly what our role should be, but the ruling Labour group has not yet agreed to it. Whether they will ever agree to it is not clear because we understand they are deeply split on this issue.

You say that ward forums with an allocated budget and devolved powers will be set up to deal with local issues. Again, this is exactly what Liberal Democrats think should happen, but no decisions have yet been made. We firmly believe that devolving powers and budgets to areas of the town would be an excellent way of promoting greater public involvement in the council, which all parties are keen to encourage.

Finally, we are very sceptical whether the proposed changes will make the council more open.

We have been critical of the way the last round of changes made the council less rather than more open with panel meetings being held in secret.

We will continue to press for openness and transparency in every aspect of the council's activities wherever possible.

Councillor Celia Jordan

Councillor Ian Marks

Councillor Peter Walker

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