A council meeting held in a pizza restaurant? Those who believed that the new scrutiny function would lead to new ways of working in local government would have been pleased to see Maidstone BC's scrutineers in action discussing facilities for young people, not in a stuffy town hall -but in the young people's chosen venue. 'Much more fun', was the universal verdict afterwards. But the path of true scrutiny has not always been a happy one. Scrutiny did not get off to good start. Everyone, from the Government down, was stressing the need for a modern, efficient, authority where decisions were made speedily and implemented effectively. Scrutiny, which placed a high premium on deliberation and on the questioning of decisions, was always going to get left behind in the rush to demonstrate the immediate impact of modernisation.
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