Conservative councillors in Kingston have vowed to “restore the democratic rights of residents” by launching their own call-in procedure to challenge decisions made the council’s Lib Dem leaders.

It comes two weeks after the Lib Dem controlled Kingston council approved controversial changes to the constitution that made it more difficult for residents to ‘call-in’ decisions for review.

Councillor Kevin Davis, Leader of the opposition, said:

“Kingston Lib Dems have a very old fashioned view that councillors make decisions and the public have to lump it.

“Too often the council have been poor at consulting, and have ignored the views and wishes of local residents. Councils should be devolving more power to people, rather than confiscating their right to have a say.”

However, Council Leader Liz Green pointed out the Conservatives had previously abolished the scrutiny panel under their administration. She said:

“The Conservatives are, of course, free to use the scrutiny arrangements as they wish. Ironically, they abolished the Scrutiny Panel when they ran the council, but we are pleased that they are taking the opportunity we have provided them to scrutinise decisions. That is democracy in action.”

The Conservatives say they will now put call-ins for residents when 100 signatures have been received from members of the public living or working in the borough on a petition by 5:30pm nine days after a decision has been made, like in the old system.

This is because despite changing the constitution for residents, councillors retained their powers to challenge council decisions if nine councillors agree for a review.

The Conservatives say they will now accept signatures either through an electronic petition scheme or in writing.

The Lib Dem council was criticised by some local campaigners for banning the use of popular websites such as Change.org and 38 Degrees to gain signatures in their new constitution.

Councillor Ian George, the Opposition spokesman for Resident Participation, said:

“A key area where residents could hold the council to account was the ability to call-in decisions for scrutiny if 100 local residents signed a petition.

“Stripping this from residents was a democratic disgrace, that was motivated by a desire to cover-up poor Lib Dem decision making from public scrutiny. We are today using our powers as the opposition to restore a fair call-in procedure. Residents will once again have the power to scrutinise the Lib Dem-run council in an open and transparent way.”

However, the Conservatives will still require people to submit names and addresses with a standardised form available on the Kingston Conservatives website.

They have also excluded certain decisions from the call-in process in line with the Lib Dem Kingston council constitution, and will not accept anything relating to licensing or planning applications, decisions where the council has to fulfil a statutory obligation, issues relating to the recruitment, discipline or dismissal of individual staff, items subject to council waiver and those that have already been called-in in the previous six months or those which will be determined by full council.

The party likewise “reserve the right to decline a call-in,” but claim “there is a commitment that even if the decision is one which the Conservative group agrees, that will not prevent a call-in.”

The Conservatives have also warned that they cannot guarantee the Lib Dem council “will not reject the member call-in for any other reason it wishes to construct.