A PROMINENT member of the Hampshire Senate has today called for the controversial group to be scrapped.

Councillor Keith House, pictured, described it as an expensive and undemocratic body that had achieved little in the 18 months since its launch.

The leader of Eastleigh Borough Council called on Councillor Ken Thornber, the self-anointed chairman of the Senate, to disband the group.

“There is no constitution, no rules, no membership arrangement and no Standing Orders. The body doesn’t actually exist, it is a virtual organisation – a figment of Ken Thornber’s imagination,”

Cllr House said.

The stinging attack comes just a day after the leader of Portsmouth City Council snubbed an invitation to join the fledgling body, which is comprised of council leaders and representatives from the police, fire, Army, health, voluntary and business sectors.

Cllr Thornber dismissed calls to disband the group and said: “The vast majority of members believe the Senate is effective.”

Cllr House, who missed Thursday’s Senate meeting due to illness, also criticised a decision to ban the public and press from a third of the Senate’s meetings.

“There is no need for private meetings in local Government, the whole point of local Government is that it is open and democratic,” he said.

Asked what the Senate had achieved, he replied: “It’s really hard to point to anything that has been achieved (by the Senate) that wouldn’t have been achieved otherwise. If you look through the claims for what the Senate has done, you will find that the things would have happened anyway.”

The Liberal Democrat councillor also said a £11,500 conference, held last month at a four-star hotel for 220 guests of the Senate, had been “of no benefit to anybody at all”.