A bid to change the way decisions are made at the Isle of Wight council has been put forward.
In a motion to full council, held tomorrow (Wednesday), Cllr Geoff Brodie is looking for support to move the authority to a different governance system.
Cabinet decisions
At the moment, some major decisions affecting the lives of every Islander are made by the council’s cabinet — a select few who are chosen by the leader of the authority.
Who fills those executive positions at the time of decision depends primarily on which political party has control of the council.
It is called the leader and cabinet model, which is common in local authorities in England.
Committee system
Another way — and the one proposed by Cllr Brodie — is the committee system and tends to give a louder voice to minority parties and independent councillors.
It would see politically-balanced committees set up, with a specific area of responsibility, and have members from all groups.
In recent years, more local authorities have shifted to this system, such as Sheffield City Council and Cheshire East Council, to allow more parties to be involved in decision-making.
A politically proportionate ‘Future Governance Working Group’
Cllr Brodie is calling for a politically proportionate ‘Future Governance Working Group’ to be set up and make recommendations to the authority in January next year about moving to a committee system.
It would then be the intention to change the governance of the council from its annual meeting next year.
The working group would look at how other authorities have transitioned to the committee system and what lessons can be learnt from that.
Speaking about his motion, Cllr Brodie said he had always opposed the cabinet system at local government level ever since it was introduced in 2000.
Brodie: In the interests of real local democracy
In March 2017, Cllr Brodie made a similar call, but debate was blocked.
Now, he said, it is time for another attempt in the interests of real local democracy.
Currently on the Isle of Wight council, no one group has overall control.
The Alliance Group was voted into power in May 2021, with Alliance councillors filling the key cabinet positions, but now is the second largest party, with 13 councillors — a third of the seats on the authority.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
