Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayoral hopeful Peter Dawe hits out at anti-democratic Combined Authority meeting

The independent candidate said all meetings should be open to the public

On arrival at yesterday’s meeting of the shadow Combined Authority for Cambrigeshire and Peterborough, Tuesday January 31, Mr Dawe said he found that a two-hour private meeting had occurred before the public meeting, and continued once the public meeting was over.

The entrepreneur is an independent candidate in the May election, and was one of the first people to announce intention to run.

In a statement he said: “The board meetings of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority are open to the public, right?

“Wrong! Today members of the shadow authority sat from 09:00 to 11:00 in closed session, with no published agenda and no published minutes. The meeting was adjourned for an hour while the “Public” meeting was held, which was just processing the already-made-decisions formally.

“They then went back into their secret discussions. Who knows what they are doing in our name! We have seen this anti-democratic behaviour in the LEP. The City Deal and City BID. Now they are trying to put it into the Combined Authority.

“Behaviour like this alienates the public. Making them cynical at best and down-right hostile at worse.

“The shadow board is currently designing these bad procedures into the Combined Authorities Constitution, Codes of Practice and other processes. They are attempting to shackle the new mayor from day one. The shadow CA members must be held to account for their actions!

“Be assured, when I become Mayor I will ensure that every possible communication will be public in a timely manner!”