Dear Editor,
There are multiple reasons why CEC is on the verge of an S114 bankruptcy notice, one of which identified by the LGA, (but on which the Labour-Independent administration have been silent) – is that the Committee System is not working.
The LGA report is clear, the committee system has created ‘silo-working’, inadequate communication between directorates and committees, budgets that are split between committees with inadequate cross-organisation fiscal control, reports are too long, effective scrutiny is poorly understood (or acknowledged) in decision-making.
Finally, there are too many committees and an inability to work at the pace.
This is a far cry from the May 2019 cross-party decision to adopt a Committee System to enable greater democracy and member participation in policy and decision-making (and despite CEC representatives visiting like-minded Brighton & Hove Council, an ‘exemplar’ of the system since 2011).
This is a critical week for CEC’s Labour/Independent administration.
They must submit reports to Government (MHCLG) and the Local Government Association, explaining how over the next four to seven years they will reverse the Council’s perilous finances.
CEC cannot change its governance model until at least May 2026, so the Committee system must be adapted quickly to address the LGA’s concerns – CEC cannot meet the transformation requirements of MHCLG unless it does.
In due course, CEC members must also have a ‘grown-up’ conversation about the future governance of our Council. No-one wants a system that recreates errors of the past, but there are options to explore that may combine the advantages of both.
And what of Brighton & Hove Council? They reinstated a Cabinet system in May!”
Yours,
Cllr Janet Clowes
Conservative Group Leader
Cheshire East Council
Brighton a classic example, another council on the verge of bankruptcy….. Seems the system doesn’t work and nobody did due diligence including the posters party