WESTMORLAND and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins is right to raise objections to the culture of secrecy, foreshadowed in this newspaper, which is bringing a creeping threat to our democratic institutions.

New local government access to information rules, which came into force this week, allow councillors to take more decisions behind closed doors.

Up to now, anyone has been able to attend council meetings and see council papers three days in advance, but the new Local Government Act restricts this right to only those decisions designated as key ones.

These must either involve a significant amount of money or affect an area covering at least two council wards.

And who is to decide upon the significance of decisions? The councils themselves.

The reduction in the transparency of council affairs is part of a shake-up of local authorities ordered by the Government, which also means the scrapping of the century-old committee system.

Instead they are pushing councils to adopt Whitehall-style executive cabinets, which places power in the hands of a few councillors.

This brings with it a culture in which civil servants' advice is always shielded from public scrutiny.

To date, council officers have known that their recommendations, at least, have been made public in minutes to committee meetings.

Some authorities, including South Lakeland District and The Lake District National Park Authority, are keen that these changes do not reduce the number of decisions taken in open session.

But Cumbria County Council, which has adopted the Government's new approach with unseemly haste, has also embraced its attack on open debate with enthusiasm.

Council leader Stewart Young has gone as far as applauding the ability of people to talk honestly and openly if the press and public are excluded from meetings.

It is too late to stop this Government from imposing its will on local authorities.

Its stated desire was to revive local government in the wake of the appallingly low turn-outs in local elections, on the pretext that the cause was the slow and clumsy committee structure.

This is a total misreading.

The real threat to local government credibility is the increasingly intrusive influence of central government.

Decisions taken behind closed doors will only increase the sense of alienation and cynicism, which is the real threat to local democracy.