The introduction of new standing orders for Saddleworth Parish Council has delivered a promise from Saddleworth’s Liberal Democrats to increase public involvement and transparency in the way the Council works.

They have scrapped a clause from the previous standing orders which required members of the public to submit questions to the Council in writing two working days before the date of a meeting. With Council meetings taking place on Mondays, that meant that questions would in practice have to be submitted on the Wednesday of the week before.

This meant that it was virtually impossible for urgent matters to be brought to the Council to be addressed.

Sam Al-Hamdani, the leader of Liberal Democrats on the Parish Council, said; “Councils must be as close to the communities they serve as possible. They should be accessible, and allow members of the public to ask questions about what is happening.

“This shows what happens when Liberal Democrats are in a position to control a Council. While others talk about transparency and openness, we deliver. We said that we would increase public participation and we have put that in place.”

The new standing orders were introduced at the Annual Meeting which took place on May 24.