COUNCIL TAX CONSULTATION

A senior councillor received a dressing down over the lack of consultation before changes to council tax payments were introduced. Councillor Richard Gerrard, cabinet member for housing, and Don McLure, head of benefits at Derby City Council, faced a grilling over the change to monthly - rather than weekly - council tax payments for Derby Homes tenants. Labour member Alan Graves, chairman of the council's scrutiny management commission, said they had failed to carry out adequate consultation. The change was recommended to the council's cabinet on November 19, subject to tenants being consulted through the city's community panel meetings. It was approved by the cabinet on that basis.

But Mr Graves told the meeting that the change had already been brought in - alongside consultation which is ongoing. He said, "It is such a serious breach of that recommendation. The recommendation was subject to consultation. I have found since that changes are already in progression, consultation is going on alongside them and I'm unhappy about that." The new system allows Derby Homes tenants to set up a monthly direct debit for their council tax, rather than having it collected weekly. It has been introduced to cut down on administrative costs, but requires tenants' consent. Mr Gerrard accepted that consultation had not been adequate and said, "I'm not going to spend much time trying to defend the consultation. You can't defend the indefensible."