Not that many days left now before the councillors making up Bath and North East Somerset Council go into ‘purdah’ – it’s the period before a local election when they cannot talk to the press.
With ratepayers going to the polls on May 2nd l thought it a good moment to talk over the authority’s Clean Air Zone proposals with the cabinet member whose ‘baby’ it is – Councillor Bob Goodman.
B&NES is nailing its colours to a scheme with won’t now include cars in its scheme of charging non-complying vehicles for entry to the city centre. Though Bob told me in our interview this morning – Tuesday, March 12th – that it doesn’t mean they won’t come into the scheme of things in the future.
Happy to hear from other political groups on B&NES and anyone else with a point of view.
It’s worth pointing out that the purdah nonsense cannot be used by candidates to keep CAZ out of the limelight, since the purdah rules apply only to council officials and spending.
Hi David,
Well, I looked up the guidance on the LGA website and it was sort of the other way round. The council members are not allowed to take electoral advantage of their current work in their campaigns but officers, within limits, can continue to announce things for themselves and slightly surprisingly for their members.
Ref: https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/purdah/what-purdah-means-practice.