THE workings of district council scrutiny committees were put under the spotlight when the Labour leader in Bromsgrove submitted two challenging motions.

Councillor Peter McDonald (Lab-Waseley) said it was a conflict of interests to have the same councillors making and then scrutinising decisions.

He and Cllr Geoff Hulett (Lab-Catshill) called for scrutiny chairmen to be elected from opposition groups, at a meeting last Tuesday.

But Cllr McDonald added: "An effective council operates with good member to member and member to officer relationships. There is no reason why the committees can't scrutinise the work of the executive, while supporting the executive."

The second motion from the Labour group called for no member to serve on both the decision-making committee and the committee responsible for scrutinising the decisions.

Both motions were refused.

Cllr McDonald is also referring district council chairman Ted Tibby (Con-Norton) to the Standards Board for England, an organisation representing standards in local government.

Cllr McDonald said the chairman could not be neutral in his chairmanship if he attends the meeting of the Conservative group prior to the full council meeting.

But Cllr Tibby said: "When I take this chair, I am neutral."

A motion to set up a cross-party task force to look into the sacking of two Bromsgrove car park attendants was not discussed because Cllr Tibby said he would not hear a debate on individual cases.

Instead, officers will look into the case and report back to the leaders of the five groups.