CITY councillors clashed over a new way of making some decisions in Winchester.

The Liberal Democrat-controlled council wants to introduce Cabinet Member Decision Days to make things more transparent and efficient.

But Conservative councillors were unhappy at the lack of prior consultation.

Cllr Stephen Godfrey said: "This is supposed to be a transparent organisation. Clearly it is not. How are concerns of councillors going to be dealt with in a transparent and open fashion? Why are you trying to suppress input from councillors?"

Cllr David McLean said: "This is being pushed through a little too quickly. We have not had a chance to look at it."

Council leader Lucille Thompson said the city council had followed the lead of the county council which has been holding such decision days for several years.

The decision days will replace the previous system whereby cabinet members decided matters in private.

The meeting heard that opposition councillors would still have the chance to refer issues to the scrutiny committees.

The changes were approved by 21 Lib Dem votes to 15 for the Conservatives.