Ruling Conservatives on South Kesteven District Council have pledged to be more open and transparent following lengthy delays between the council receiving external reports and councillors and committees being able to discuss them.

A 'full' council meeting last week agreed to the move following a motion from opposition councillor Phil Dilks who told the meeting: "The culture of this council is elected members of all parties, including the ruling group, are treated with contempt."

Coun Dilks' motion cited The 'Riverside Report' which "exposed serious failings by SKDC in providing adequate heating and hot water to 90 of our most elderly and vulnerable tenants leading to feelings that they had been badly let down and lied to."

Coun Dilks (Ind- Deeping St James) also cited the 'Delivery Good Governance' report which mades 17 recommendations, highlighting that 'aspects of the Local Code of Governance are not working as intended…', and states that '…these are matters for all councillors.'

His motion also noted that the 'Riverside Report' was submitted to the Council last March but not considered by a committee until eight months later.

The councillor also noted that the 'Delivery Good Governance Report' was submitted to this Council in December 2019, but not considered either by the full Council or by any committee of the Council until the last day of November 2020, almost a full year after it was submitted.

He added: "In view of the above, and in the interests of openness, transparency and collaboration, this Council resolves to urgently refresh its practices and protocols to ensure that all such future external Reports are considered either by the full Council or by a committee of this Council as appropriate at the earliest opportunity."

Council leader Kelham Cooke then told the meeting he was happy to support Coun Dilks' motion.

Coun Cooke (Con-Casewick) said the delays in presenting the Riverside report were due to the pandemic and lockdown. There were also delays in waiting for a Health and Safety Executive report.

The Good Governance report, he said, was delayed by the council waiting for a new chief executive and within 14 days of her arrival, the country went into lockdown again.

Coun Cooke continued: "I am happy to support this proposal and the recommendations today."

"I said when I became Leader, I want us to become more open. Of course we are having our review and scrutiny to make sure committees are effective. I would encourage all of the council to support this."

Coun Paul Wood (Ind-Viking), who leads the Independent group on SKDC, had earlier seconded Coun Dilks' motion.

He said: "We are not there to oppose everything the administration does. Things can and will go wrong. Our policy is to work and support things not cause problems. I would encourage all the Independent members to support this."

Coun Ashley Baxter (Ind- Market and West Deeping) called the move 'long overdue' saying SKDC has a 'wider problem' with such matters.

Just before councillors all voted for the move, Coun Dilks welcomed the cross-party support for SKDC to 'refresh' its practices and protocols.

But he added: "It is not good to have reports that don't see the light of day for a year. [This is] ironic that [one] report was about openness and transparency."

The vote followed another decision by the full council to offer a council tax discount to police specials following another motion from Coun Dilks on the subject, reversing an earlier decision by the SKDC cabinet not to award such a discount, as reported by Nub News.