RESIDENTS of West Oxfordshire will be able to take their councillors to task over key issues after a motion was passed to improve accountability.

The individual votes of councillors on West Oxfordshire District Council will now be recorded at full council meetings following a successful motion from the Labour Party last Wednesday – meaning people in the area will have the opportunity to see how the councillor representing their area voted.

Councillor Andrew Coles, who represents Witney, entered the motion – which received enthusiastic support from fellow councillors across the political divide – to ‘improve accountability, openness and transparency at the council’.

Mr Coles said: “It’s important for residents to be able to see how their own local councillor voted. Some of the decisions the council take are hugely important and can have far reaching consequences such as decisions on the emerging local plan.

"Improving accountability, openness and transparency is not only essential but crucial to maintaining a healthy democracy."

The local plan is a document which outlines areas for sustainable development across the district.

West Oxfordshire’s plan, which includes proposals to build 16,000 new homes in the area by 2031, is in the process of being examined by a planning inspector

Previously, the council’s rules of procedure prevented individual votes from being recorded and a resident would need to be at the meeting in person to see how their own councillor voted.

A councillor could request that their individual vote be recorded but the votes of all councillors weren’t – except for the annual budget meeting which is governed by other legislation.

The new procedure needs to be triggered before any given vote and requires the support of four councillors.

Conservative councillor Ted Fenton, who backed Mr Coles my seconding the motion, said: “Currently it is a requirement at the budget meeting but not at other times where voting is by a show of hands and is carried or fails without record of who voted how.

“We feel that the people we represent should have access to the voting record of their representatives.

"The motion included that it is at the specific request of four councillors as this avoids unnecessary bureaucracy when it comes to votes which are procedural or not contentious.”

The motion was supported by all parties and was carried thanks to votes from the vast majority of the council.

Mr Coles said: “I was delighted the motion was enthusiastically passed and had the backing of all political parties on the council.”