A MAVERICK Waverley councillor has lashed out at the Liberal Democrat regime, and what he perceives to be their "publicity machine". Tory Adam Taylor-Smith lambasted the Lib Dems in an email, accusing them of issuing biased media statements before branding them unnecessarily secretive. Mr Taylor-Smith, councillor for Witley and Hambledon, snapped after the receipt of "quasi-political" press releases from Waverley Borough Council's (WBC) communications department. After the arrival of an email entitled: "Waverley Needs Your Help in European X-Factor Style Awards" in his inbox, Mr Taylor-Smith fired the broadside at WBC leader Gillian Ferguson. "It is really stretching the truth to state in the press release below that you are "committed to transparency and openness" given the track record of your administration trying to suppress information becoming public," he said in the email. Citing the "suppression of information about East Street", Mr Taylor Smith accused the Liberal Democrats of "repeatedly putting information in "exempt" that is not confidential." "There should be a presumption that information is in "open" unless there is a good reason for it being in exempt and not vice versa," he added. Mr Taylor-Smith continued to question the restriction of information regarding the creation of a new "managing director" post, following the redundancy in April of former chief executive Christine Pointer. And he concluded by declaring: "I object to the stream of quasi-political press releases being issued by the much expanded communications team at Waverley, particularly in this case where there is a basic reality gap." Speaking to The Herald, Mr Taylor Smith elaborated on his anxieties. "I am increasingly concerned about how the communications team at Waverley are being used for political rather than publicity purposes for the council. "It is right and proper that Waverley should tell people what it is up to, and using the example of waste collection, Waverley should educate its residents as to how the system works. "But at the moment, they've all got these cheesy quotes from Gillian Ferguson, Byron Grainger Jones, Victor Scrivens and Patrick Haveron stating the bleeding obvious and telling everybody how wonderful the Liberal Democrats are!" "I personally think there is a need for protocol in Waverley as to how it puts out the press releases and how they are done. I think there needs to be a complete overhaul. "It needs to be looked at. You can't have an administration using its communications department to pump out the party message: it's just not helpful." Citing the example of the protracted East Street scheme, Mr Taylor Smith said: "I have to sit through this claptrap where everything is still in exempt. "It's almost like Waverley are saying 'we know best and the public is to trust us', but I think on East Street the public is right not to trust us," he added. Mr Taylor-Smith's concerns about secrecy echo the sentiments of fellow Conservative councillor Carole Cockburn. "On several occasions now I have felt increasingly that we members are only told what the officers and the executive want us to know," she said earlier this month at WBC's full council meeting. "In fact, some of you will remember there was point where I asked the former chief executive whether I should phone on a daily basis to find out what it was that I wasn't actually being told about," she added. In response to Mr Taylor Smith's assertions, WBC leader and Lib Dem Gillian Ferguson said: "I've replied to say that I look forward to debating these issues in open in the council chamber. "Nothing is kept in exempt that there isn't a good reason for. If we discussed certain matters in open discussion, we would prejudice the [East Street] contract with the developers. "That sort of thing is for the advantage of tax payers. We are not doing it to protect ourselves, we are doing it to protect the council and tax payers as a whole. And her reply to the issue of allegedly biased press releases was: "They are not allowed to do that and officers are careful not to do that." Following Mr Taylor-Smith's claims, WBC issued a statement. "The Local Government Act 1986 as amended by the 1998 Act does not allow local authorities to publish material that could be deemed to influence support for a political party. We strive to ensure that this does not happen – our focus is always on reporting 'Waverley Borough Council' business." With reference to an enquiry about openness and accountability, WBC said: "The council's proper officers scrutinise agendas to make sure that wherever possible, information is included in the open part of the agenda. "Most 'exempt' items contain information pertaining to staff-related issues and contractual matters. However, not all contractual matters contain information that would justify being considered as exempt. A judgement is made whether or not the disclosure of information in any ongoing or future negotiations could undermine the council's position, which in turn could impact on the council achieving the best deal for council tax payers." Yet further questions were raised last week relating to WBC's new managing director position - a situation Mr Taylor Smith described as "embarrassing". Again, one of his Conservative counterparts asked difficult questions within WBC headquarters, with James Mackie inquiring: "May we have clarification as to the precise distinction between managing director and chief executive?" A visibly flustered Miss Ferguson replied: "Right, basically, it's just a title. It's a question of what the job does which is the head of an organisation. There are a number of ways of describing it, and we used to describe it as the head of paid services. "Really that's the title, but it's a question of what the job involves which is the important point of all this."
