John McLellan: When is a consensus not a consensus?
The city council's communications department is to be commended for the speed with which they issue their press releases, a fortnight ago heralding a new economic strategy set for approval at last week's Housing & Economy committee.
According to the release, which reflected a draft document produced for discussion, the strategy was based on a “consensus of opinion” after consultation with all political parties.
Except that consultation was minimal to say the least, so minimal that opposition groups didn’t notice they’d been consulted on the proposed contents at all.
So the strategy is on hold for proper discussions to take place, after which there might indeed be all-party agreement now we know what it is we’re supposed to be agreeing.
At least the press release re-write might not take long.