Bolton Council WILL open up its secret Cabinet meetings to the public. In a dramatic U-turn, councillors have vowed to end their "behind closed doors" policy and allow the BEN to cover their meetings and tell council tax payers about the decisions they make. The Cabinet will not meet in the open until after the next meeting of the full council on November 1 when the decision to end the secrecy will be formally made.

But at last night's council meeting it was revealed that the ruling Labour group of councillors has already decided upon the principle of open Cabinets.

And rules will be drawn up for how the new system will operate in the next few weeks.

Bolton Council introduced a Cabinet of 10 Labour councillors in May as part of the proposals for the modernisation of councils included in the Local Government Act.

But their meetings have been held behind closed doors with minutes released two days later.

The BEN has led the campaign to end the secrecy defending the council tax payer's right to freedom of information.

Opposition councillors will also be able to attend the meetings under the new proposals.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne Cabinet member responsible for the modernisation process, said: "Even if it proves impossible to reach full agreement on how this decision is implemented, be assured that the Cabinet meetings from the next cycle will be held in public."

He added: It has become apparent that if the new system of working is to gain credibility, the main meetings at which decisions are taken should be held in public."

He argued that this had happened in the past because until the Local Government Bill became law, Cabinet decisions had to be rubber-stamped by a management and finace committee. But this will no longer exist and decisions will be made by the Cabinet.

Councillors applauded after Cllr Kilcoyne had made his statement.

There will also be an end to marathon sessions at the full council meeting.

A time limit will be put on meetings and if the business is not finsihed, the council will meet again later.

Suggestions have been put forward that this could be either the next day or the following week.

Last night's meeting lasted three and a half hours and in July it was more than four hours.

Cllr Kilcoyne said: "When you consider that over half of the members of this council are in employment, it is unacceptable that someone who has come straight from work ot a council meeting could be kept here until the early hours and have to return to work the next day."

The council is also to look at how the scrutiny committees have operated which were set up to keep an eye on the Cabinet's decisions.

There will also be a review of the area forums which were set up in distructs of Bolton to give the public a greater say on how the council operates.