Council's consultation with local residents on the two new forms of Governance
From May to the end of July 2010 the Council is consulting with residents on changes it has to make to its constitution.
Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, the Council must change to one of two new forms of local government in May 2011. These two forms of government are:
a Leader with stronger powers – (which is known as the Strong Leader model)
Directly Elected Mayor
These are the only forms of local government now permitted and the Council has no choice but to change to one of them.
The Council would like to hear what the residents of Spelthorne have to say on changing to either a Strong Leader or a Directly Elected Mayor form of local government. At the conclusion of the public consultation the views received from local residents will be collated and presented to councillors for consideration. A formal decision on which model to implement will then be decided at a special meeting of the Borough Council in the Autumn.
A summary of the changes is described below.
Current system:
The Council has a Leader and a Cabinet. The Leader is appointed every year by the Council. The Council decides how many people are in the Cabinet. The Council decides what jobs the people in the Cabinet do. The Council appoints the Cabinet every year. The Council decides a scheme of delegation to say what decisions the Cabinet and the Officers can make.
New Systems:
The differences are as follows:
The Elected Mayor is not a councillor. It is an additional post to the 39 councillors. The Strong Leader is one of the 39 councillors
The Elected Mayor is elected by the residents once every four years. The Strong Leader is elected by the Council for a four year term.
The Elected Mayor cannot be removed during his or her term of office. The Council can remove the Strong Leader during his or her term of office.
If we have an Elected Mayor the current [ceremonial] Mayor becomes Chairman of the Council. If we have a Strong Leader we keep the present arrangements for the [ceremonial] Mayor.
But these things are the same for the Elected Mayor and the Strong Leader:
The Mayor or Strong Leader decides how many people are in the Cabinet. The Mayor or Strong Leader decides what jobs the people in the Cabinet do. The Mayor or Strong Leader appoints the Cabinet and can dismiss them at will. The Mayor or Strong Leader decides a scheme of delegation to say what decisions the Cabinet and the Officers can make.
So in both cases there is a concentration of power away from the Council to one person, either an Elected Mayor or a Strong Leader.
We would like to hear your views as to which form of government the Council should choose.
The Council currently prefers the Strong Leader model because:
Strong Leader and Cabinet model preserves the links with the councillors and representation of wards in the present political system
Elected Mayor model introduces the prospect of personality into local politics which although it may be conducive to city government is less appropriate in a small district such as Spelthorne
A Strong Leader can be removed by the Council during the term of four years and this is an important constitutional safeguard
But we want to hear your views before we make any final decision.
