Residents have been kept in the dark and community bodies ignored by Reform's flag proposals, say Warwickshire Liberal Democrats.

At yesterday's Scrutiny Committee meeting, Reform's policy proposals were debated for the first time since the party took office over four months ago.

During the meeting, Warwickshire County Council discussed its controversial new flag policy, was also officially put into place, after a split scrutiny panel narrowly voted against asking for it to be reconsidered.

The new policy means Reform UK's ruling that only the flags of the UK, England and Warwickshire will be flown from Shire Hall as a matter of course is now council policy.

The Liberal Democrats questioned Reform's proposals and their relation to improving care services for local vulnerable residents, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities services for families and young people in Warwickshire, delivering highways and school building projects or preparing our proposals for local government reorganisation.

Cllr Richard Dickson of the Lib Dems shared this, was,  "Despite the fact that these are issues which we hear about every day from residents."

Discussing the new flag policy, he added: "The flags plans could have been so much fairer. 

"Rather than just the Council Chair deciding unilaterally about flags we suggested a Panel of three people." 

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He expressed that Reform also confirmed "they'd not bothered to consult" with either Warwickshire & Solihull Community And Voluntary Action nor the C&W Chamber of Commerce about the plans.

Cllr Dickson added: "We also proposed that the Chair publish the reasons why requests for certain community flags are refused and why certain community flags are agreed. 

"This would have been far more open and helped create trust and confidence in the process. 

"But Reform councillors, supported by the Conservative members on the Committee, said no to this suggestion too. 

"What's more, one of the Conservative members is actually the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee. "As a result residents will be kept in the dark.

"We tried to be constructive and work together. We tried to create a better outcome for residents. But Reform, backed by the Conservatives, would have none of it."

He concluded that despite the Liberal Demcrats' "best efforts," the day was "a bad day for democracy in Warwickshire."

"First they came for our flags, but at least we did speak out."

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