THE chances of a full public inquiry into the MetPro security contract scandal look to be gone after an emergency motion to talk about the problem was voted down by Conservative councillors.

Labour leader Councillor Alison Moore asked if members could discuss issues arising from the £1.2m contract, after it was revealed residents were secretly filmed at the last full council meeting by security guards.

It has also emerged the company was not licensed to perform the duties it was employed to undertake by Barnet Council.

She asked for a scrutiny committee to be set up to lead investigations into how the contract was being run, but was voted down by Tory members and will now be passed to the audit committee.

Councillor Lord Munroe Palmer, the Lib Dem who chairs the audit committee, added: “I want to reassure everybody that the audit committee will investigate this in an independent manner”.

The issue of filming at meetings also reared its head with several members of the public asked to stop recording from the public gallery by Mayor of Barnet Anthony Finn who chaired the meeting.

Plans for the council to start filming and webcasting proceeding swill be brought to full council in the meeting after May’s Annual Council meeting.

A debate on planned changes to squatting laws after several high profile incidents in Hampstead Garden Suburb also proved divisive, with Labour members suggesting criminalising the offence, which is currently a civil matter, could impact on sitting tenants in a dispute with their landlords.

Councillor Pauline Coakley-Webb raised plans to close Friern Barnet Library put forward in a recent library review, saying she had a “constant stream of people” upset at the prospect of losing it.

She was told by Councillor Robert Rams the library would be provided in the artsdepot in North Finchley with “increased” access to outreach services”.