Liberal Democrat Group Leader Carol Runciman has urged the Labour Cabinet to release secret briefing papers about the Community Stadium project to the public. The call comes amid fears that important information about the scheme will only be discussed behind closed doors by Council leaders.

The Community Stadium project is set to come before the Cabinet on Tuesday 6th March. However, large parts of the council papers have been made confidential including key details regarding how the project will be financed.

Councillor Carol Runciman said “The plans for the Community Stadium, which the Liberal Democrats initiated when in office, are something we back and we are pleased that the matter has now progressed to cabinet. However, hiding vital details from the public is not the proper way for the council to operate.”

The news of the withholding of significant data comes in the context of a stream of stories highlighting Labour’s unwillingness to be open with the public about decision-making. The Liberal Democrats have most recently been demanding that Labour change their plans to remove the publicly-held decision making sessions for Cabinet members.

Cllr Runciman pointed out that Liberal Democrat made sure when in office that they minimised the ‘confidential’ elements of any council reports, so that the actions being taken were clear to the public. She said “When Liberal Democrats ran the council, we always made sure officers released as much information as was possible to the public, but in this case, it appears that Labour are trying to cover everything up. There are nearly 100 pages of information which Labour has refused to release.”

The Lib Dem Leader said that the Community Stadium was too significant a project to not disclose this information to residents. She said “The Community Stadium is an important project for the future of York. It is wrong that the cabinet has not made all of the relevant information available to the public. We are urging the Labour cabinet to release as much paperwork as possible and not keep the majority of it hidden, so that the basis of the decisions being made is clear to all of York’s residents.”