The post you are reporting:
DT1 - Councillors in my time challenged the officers all the time. In fact the meeting I referred to was because I challenged them and it resulted in a long meeting to justify the draft proposals. We did, however, refine it and improve it a little but were not able to resolve all the issues.
Incidentally, budget was not an issue. All the issues were around the practicalities of traffic flow and the servicing requirments for the properties. Things do change, the use of buildings changes over time and traffic flows can change as a result of extraneous factors. Therefore such matters do need re-visiting, and challenging, on a regular basis.
Keith - I disagree with you totally. I dont know about the period you lot were in control, (well, I suspect I do know but wont go into that right now!) but when I was TS Chairman, I and my group set the policy and the officers had to follow that policy. Problems had to be addressed in line with those policy priorities. There was no way we were officer led and I am willing to bet, now with Paul Watkins as Leader, it is the same now.