AN Essex MP has accused the county council of gagging the public at its meetings.

Sir Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, was due to table a Parliamentary motion yesterday, criticising the Tory-controlled counci lfor refusing to allow members of the public to speak or ask questions at its meetings.

He said: “What possible reason can the Tories have to gag members of the public from asking questions at council meetings?”

Sir Bob claimed it indicated the culture at County Hall from the Lord Hanningfield years was still lingering.

He added: “Had questions been possible when Lord Hanningfield was running the show, perhaps the matters subsequently revealed may have come to public attention sooner. The fact the new regime, in this respect, is continuing in the same old way from the Hanningfield era is of serious concern.”

Council leader David Finch responded: “I am afraid that this is all about political games rather than a representation of reality. And a sad reflection of the fact that Mr Russell still lives in the past and can’t move on from talking about Lord Hanningfield.

"When I became Leader in May, I asked officers to commence work to understand how we can better engage with the public.

"This has to be a wide-ranging engagement agenda – questions at council meetings may be part of the answer but they won’t be the silver bullet that Mr Russell seems to think.

"At our Scrutiny meeting at the end of this month I will be presenting how we engage with the public and this engagement may involve a number of features – councillor-led public roadshows; community summits; Cabinet Member question and answer sessions on social media; and webcasting of Council meetings.

"We have not ruled out public questions at council meetings – this is just one way in which we can engage with the public."