Sham of democracy in Wiltshire unveiled in Council Meeting

For the first time Wiltshire's residents were able to watch the debates in County Hall live via the Internet this week and, according the Wiltshire Lib Dem Leader Jon Hubbard, they will have been shocked by the "arrogance of the ruling Conservative Group" and "lack of respect for the democratic process" demonstrated during the meeting.

The meeting, which saw the ruling Conservative administration dismiss any proposed changes to the new Wiltshire Licensing Policy saying that the Council Chamber was not the place to make them.

Melksham Councillor Jon Hubbard claims to be outraged by this arbitrary decision saying, "It is a legal requirement that the policy is adopted by the Full Council after having been consulted on and then debated. Yesterday was the last opportunity for the opinions of Wiltshire residents to be heard, but it appears that the Conservatives weren't listening."

"I was making a simple request on behalf of the residents of my community, and indeed the many other communities who are blighted by an excessive number of late night take-away establishments. All I wanted was the council to agree to explore adding a condition to our licensing objectives that said when considering a new application the level of existing provision could be taken into account."

"Unfortunately the Conservative administration was not interesting in listening to real problems facing real people in out towns, and instead used there block vote to force the policy through without agreeing to this."

In the afternoon it was necessary for the meeting to be stopped so that legal advice could be sought to check if the actions of the administration were legal. Following discussions with lawyers it was necessary for the Conservative Administration to withdraw a motion to council they had tried to slip in as a replacement to one proposed by Independent councillors, but then they simply block voted to replace the legitimate motion with their own anyway.

"This is an affront to democracy" claims Lib Dem leader Jon Hubbard. "We saw today the most horrific example of what happens when a political group decides that they are no longer interested in what anyone else thinks and will do whatever it takes to get their way, even if it means ignoring the rules."

"This is an administration that was too scared too voice an opinion in May because they thought they may upset some MPs and is still too scared to do so now."