COUNCILLORS have criticised the decision to remove provision for a new ‘listening committee’ from the constitution of the new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council.

Initial drafts of the new council’s governing principles had included plans to create the new form of committee directly involving the public which has been inspired by serious failings at other local authorities.

However, this provision has now been withdrawn from the draft constitution, drawing criticism from councillors.

The Centre for Public Scrutiny had recommended that the council form a committee in which the public could directly raise issues with councillors.

The idea is in place at a handful of other councils across the country, most of which have faced criticism for the way they have handled crises, including the Grenfell Fire and Rotherham sexual abuse scandal.

In December, members of the shadow authority’s scrutiny committee gave their backing to the inclusion of the new committee in its constitution.

However, the latest draft of the document has seen this withdrawn following a decision by the council’s governance task and finish group of councillors Nicola Greene, Philip Broadhead, David Flagg, May Haines and Ian Potter.

A report by Tanya Coulter, the interim monitoring officer for the new council, said that the decision needed to be considered by the council after its formation in April due to the need to “get it right.”

She says: “The task and finish group is supportive of the need to ensure the new council has a mechanism or mechanisms in place to listen, engage and consult with its residents and businesses.

“It takes the view, however, that there are a number of different ways in which the new council can do this.

“As this is such a crucial issue to get right in the future, it considers that this needs to be fully considered early in the new council so that effective public engagement mechanisms are established within the structure.”

However, councillors at Thursday’s meeting of the shadow authority scrutiny voted to request that the listening committee provision be added back into the constitution.

Cllr Beverley Dunlop criticised Ms Coulter’s report as “a bit of gobbledegook” and criticised the task and finish group for ignoring the committee’s December suggestion.

“We are surely in a time when politicians should be listening more to the public and not less,” she said. “I can’t see the logic in not accepting the recommendation already put forward by this committee.

“The wind is blowing very clearly in this direction and we should be going with it.”

Cllr Dunlop’s proposal that the council revert to the earlier version of the constitution was supported by the committee and will be considered by the shadow executive at its meeting on Tuesday.