A district councillor has ‘called in’ a decision to close Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) area offices in Buckingham and Winslow.
On Tuesday, AVDC cabinet members agreed a recommendation to close the district council’s front desks in Winslow Library and the Buckingham Centre, saving £70,000. But yesterday, Thursday, district councillor for Buckingham South, Robin Stuchbury, called in the decision.
Under AVDC’s constitution, cabinet decisions can be called in within five working days if three members of a scrutiny committee request it.
This temporarily blocks the decision and means it cannot be acted on until it has been considered by the finance and services scrutiny committee.
A date for the meeting will be set in the new year.
Mr Stuchbury said: “This decision didn’t go to scrutiny committee, it went straight to cabinet.”
Mr Stuchbury secured the support of district councillor for Buckingham north Derrick Isham, Aylesbury member Michael Beall and Wingrave’s Peter Cooper to call in the decision before the Christmas break.
He said: “Now they can take the decision at precept but they can’t actually action the decision until the next meeting of the finance and scrutiny committee
“What I’m trying to do in the interim is to get the town, county and district to meet and discuss possibilities.
“This is to buy some time for some common sense to prevail. I haven’t won anything but I haven’t lost anything. All I’ve done is give them some time for the three councils to come up with something.
“As a local member if I didn’t do everything I could to save that service, I would be negligent.
“This gives us a month. The public can now say to their local members they want them to speak at scrutiny.”