NEW committee chairmen have pledged toissue bring in a new era of harsh scrutiny at the city council after opposition parties stripped the Labour group of some of its powerful council positions.

An extraordinary meeting of the City of York Council on Thursday saw all but one of the Labour group’s committee chairmen relieved of their duties, as a combined effort by opposition parties forced through a series of new appointments.

Now the councillors set to hold the powerful positions have set out their priorities for the next seven months.

The newly re-elected councillor for Westfield, Andrew Waller, has taken the chairmanship of the economic and city development overview and scrutiny committee, and said he wants bring in better oversight and more effective scrutiny of the cabinet over expensive projects, like the £10 million bridge into York Central.

He said: “We have got to get to the bottom of why money has been spent in the way it has – and why it has been diverted from basic services.

“Everything the council spends money on has to have a business case and a justification.”

Conservative Paul Doughty has become chairman of the health overview and scrutiny committee. He has highlighted the Castlegate centre, the long-running project to open two new “super care homes” in the city, and the continuing budget problems in adult social care as things he wants to tackle.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Nigel Ayre, an existing member of the audit and governance committee, has said he wants to use his chairmanship to better scrutinise council spending and its handling of public finances more closely.

He wants decision-making to be more open – and believes that will be possible with the newly-rebalanced committees.

He said: “Under Labour, too many decisions are made behind closed doors and the views of residents and opposition councillors have been too often ignored.”

Another Liberal Democrat, Cllr Ann Reid, has taken the top job on the planning committee and said she wants to make sure the council can resist planning applications that might be rushed in before York has a proper local plan in place.

In yesterday’s edition of The Press, we wrongly called Cllr Reid Carol, and reported that Labour Councillor Neil McIlveen would retain chair of the area planning sub-committee. In fact, it will now be chaired by Cllr Brian Watson (independent).

We regret the confusion.