Cheshire East will have to scrap its committee system and revert to a leader and cabinet model if government plans to simplify local council governance go ahead, writes Belinda Ryan.
The government is planning to introduce new legislation to abolish the committee system, which local government minister Jim McMahon said could be ‘unclear, duplicative, and wasteful, leading to slower, less efficient decision making’.
Mr McMahon said: “The government plans to legislate to abolish the committee system, requiring those councils currently operating this model to transition to the leader and cabinet model – which the vast majority of councils in England already currently operate.
“This will simplify the governance system and ensure all councils operate an executive form of governance, providing clarity on responsibility and accountability, and improving efficiency in decision making.”
From its formation in 2009, Cheshire East did originally operate under a leader and cabinet system – this was mainly under the Conservatives.
The cabinet at that time was comprised of 10 members from the ruling party, who were appointed by the council leader.
Each cabinet member had their own responsibility, such as health, environment or planning.
In May 2021 – under the joint Labour/Independent administration – Cheshire East switched to a committee system of governance.
This means decisions are made by committees with proportional representation from all the council’s political groups.
Cheshire East’s Labour and Independent members argue this is more democratic with more councillors involved in the decision-making process.
But the Tories have always favoured the cabinet system, and warned from the outset a committee system would mean decisions take longer.
This warning appears to have been supported last year by the Local Government Association peer challenge report which said Cheshire East needed to urgently review its decision-making framework ‘to avoid siloed working across committees’.
The council was also slated in the report for its lengthy and overly complicated committee reports which made scrutiny difficult.
The committee system’s ‘slower, less efficient decision making’ has now been given by the government as one reason for abolishing the system.
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Whilst we are aware of the recent ministerial statement on this subject, the council is nevertheless committed to making improvements to its decision-making arrangements, where possible.
“There has been no direct approach to the council, by government, in respect of its proposals for local government.
“It is understood that these proposals will apply to all local authorities, nationally.”
There has been problems in the past with the proposal now being resurrected. The point about Officer reports is correct. I have commented about one report being over 300 pages long, the item I wanted was on pages 280 to 290. The reports follow a format of causing confusion, jargon, unusual phrases, and officer speak. Some is totally rubbish. Pity CEC has fallen in to this mode.
Well the Committee System currently in operation clearly isn’t working with CEC.