A COUNTY councillor has slammed council chiefs after she was refused entry into an historic meeting.

Clr Nora Stopford, of Longmeadow, Weaverham, had planned to attend the first meeting of the Cheshire Cabinet on Monday, which will replace the former committee system introduced in 1889.

But after walking in on the meeting at County Hall, in Chester, and asking whether she had the right to attend, Clr Stopford was told the meeting was private and was forced to leave.

Clr Stopford, a Conservative councillor, said: "We wanted to discover whether this was one of those occasions when the meeting was going to be held in public. Sadly, it was not.

"In other words, not one member of the Conservative opposition, which holds 19 seats on this county council - exactly the same number as Labour - was present to represent his or her electors." Clr Stopford left while an officer explained that all Cabinet meetings, which comprises members of the county's ruling Labour and Liberal Democrats, would be held in public during the transitional period.

But Conservative leader Clr Paul Findlow said: "It is a dark day for democracy when meetings of the new executive body are held in private and the talking shop held in public.

"We attempted to attend the meeting because standing orders of the council say that meetings of the Cabinet need not necessarily be held in private."