They spend our money but won't tell us how much and on what - where's the accountability?

Following on from the success of my first edition of Hastings Five in 5 I’ve launched episode two today.

What is it about councils these days that they appear to believe they are unaccountable? They spend our money but seem to think it’s okay not to justify what they are doing to us, the people who elect them and provide the funding to let them pursue their pet projects.

Ah elections you’ll say. They are accountable to the electorate every four years and that’s true, unless of course they vote to postpone those elections as happened this year and even when election do happen only 30-odd per cent of those eligible to cast a vote actually do so, is that really democracy?

Perhaps turnout numbers reflect the fact that so many people don’t really understand what their councils do and with no meaningful reporting of council activities that suits our elected members down to the ground and might even suit the salaried council officials too, where’s the scrutiny, where’s the accountability?