ATTEMPTS to change the times of some public council meetings were defeated after a vote.

It's Our County group member Councillor Marcelle Lloyd Hayes put forward a motion to request that at least half of all public council meetings were held outside the core working hours of 9am to 4pm.

She said it was clear that the council was not representative of its communities, that people were concerned about the state of 'democracy' and struggled to find meaningful ways to engage with local issues.

"We were all elected in the same manner and are here to serve, not be served," she said.

However, despite support for the motion from her own group, other members were not in support.

Cllr Chris Chappell stated that the council's constitution already made it clear that the chairman of a committee could call a meeting at any time or at any place in the county.

With some members travelling from rural areas or county borders, evening meetings would mean they would have to return home late and in the dark, he said.

He highlighted that meetings of Hereford City Council, held in the evenings at Hereford Town Hall, drew few members of the public.

Cllr Bartlett said she might have been able to support a move in the 'right direction' but could not back the call for at least half of all meetings to be held outside of core working hours.

Meanwhile Cllr Terry James, who represents Kington, said: "I must say that members of the public are always asking me for evening meetings saying they would love to finish work at 5.30pm and come to Hereford to come to listen to a council meeting. I just think we need to live in the real world.

"The business we have to do is long. Those of us in rural areas have commitments in the evenings. There are organisations in rural areas which we have to attend. We would be absentee councillors if we started meeting in the evenings. It has been tried and was a dismal failure. Quite a lot of members didn't turn up and no one from the public did."

It’s Our County Councillor Mark Mansell stepped down from his role as Herefordshire councillor for Kings Acre ward in August and said it had been 'impossible' for him to fulfil the demands of the job as many meetings and sessions are held in normal working hours.

Councillor Sharon Michael, current mayor of Hereford, added: "All we are asking is that times have changed, just give it a go for six months.

"We may have tried it in the past but there are a lot of new councillors elected that didn't even know it's been tried before."