Interviewed on local radio this morning, Warwickshire Lib Dem county councillor John Whitehouse (Kenilworth Abbey) called on the Conservative leader of the council to “get on with it” over Combined Authority proposals.

On Thursday the council backed a Lib Dem-amended motion to ensure that the door was left open to any improved proposals put forward by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), while the council explored all other options available for Warwickshire. This defeated a Labour attempt to reinstate the WCMA proposal rejected by the council three weeks earlier, with members of all the other parties continuing to believe that this proposal was unacceptable in its current form.

Cllr Whitehouse repeated his call made in the council meeting for the agreed Member Working Group to be set up and meet as soon as possible, expressing his frustration that more than three weeks had passed without action.

He also called for an end to the secret meetings between council leaders which have characterised the debate about combined authorities over several months, with most elected members and the general public having been kept largely in the dark about the detailed proposals.

This secrecy was blown apart yesterday by the publication by a local Coventry newspaper of a leaked copy of the WCMA’s Draft West Midlands Agreement being proposed to central government.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse (Rugby Eastlands & Hillmorton), Lib Dem Group leader, said: “Any excuses for secrecy have now gone. Lib Dems are calling for an open, informed debate about what solution best meets the needs of Warwickshire, and involving Warwickshire residents as fully as possible in making this vital decision about all our futures.”