Bedford Borough Labour Group believes people living in Bedford Borough should have the opportunity to decide how their council is governed in future.
The last referendum on this was held in 2002, and the Group feel people who reside in the Borough now should have their say on this again.
Bedford Borough Labour Group is presenting a Motion to Full Council on Wednesday, 16 September, calling for councillors to allow residents a referendum on the Borough’s governance arrangements.
Bedford Borough currently operates under a directly elected Executive Mayor and Cabinet model.
The alternative is a Leader and Cabinet system.
These are the two systems of governance now permitted; the old style of a ‘committee system’ is no longer an option.
Both are recognised forms of local government. The question is which provides the better balance of effective leadership, democratic accountability, representation and value for money for Bedford Borough?
What is the difference?
Under the current Executive Mayor and Cabinet model, residents directly elect the executive mayor, who provides the political leadership of the Council and appoints other elected Ward Councillors to the Executive (sometimes referred to as the Cabinet).
Members of the Executive hold Portfolios – e.g. for adult services, environment, finance, etc. The mayor and executive have wide decision-making powers over Council services and devise the budget.
Under a Leader and Cabinet model, residents would continue to elect their local ward councillors. The 46 councillors on Full Council would then elect a Leader from among those councillors, with the leader then appointing the executive.
There are legitimate arguments for both systems
A directly elected mayor provides a clear individual mandate and makes it straightforward for residents to identify who is politically responsible for executive decisions.
However, it also concentrates significant executive authority in one individual, whose mandate can differ from the political make-up of Full Council, as is the current situation.
Presently there are 15 Conservatives (including the mayor), 13 Liberal Democrats, 12 Labour, 4 Green and 3 Independent councillors
A Leader and Cabinet system provides a greater role for elected ward councillors in determining the council’s leadership and can more directly reflect the political composition of Full Council.
Residents deserve to hear the arguments for both models and then have the opportunity to decide.
The cost of holding such a referendum is of course an issue, with Bedford Borough, like so many local authorities throughout the country, struggling to find the money to provide services after 14 years of cuts and with ever-rising demand.
Potential cost
The current estimate is that holding a standalone referendum would cost approximately £350,000.
However, it is also important to consider the cost in the context of the potential savings.
Our current assessment is that the cost of the referendum would be recouped through savings associated with the Mayor’s Office within approximately three years, with savings of £100k per year continuing thereafter.
In other words, this is a one-off democratic cost which we believe can be recovered through ongoing savings from the change in governance arrangements, if that is what residents vote for.
If residents believe the directly elected mayor provides the strongest system of leadership and accountability, they should be able to say so.
If they believe a Leader and Cabinet system would provide better representation, accountability and value for money, they should be able to say that too.
This is why I strongly reject the suggestion that seeking a referendum is, somehow, political point-scoring.
Other political parties and councillors are perfectly entitled to disagree with us. If they believe the current system is better, I would encourage them to make that case to residents.
We are asking Full Council to give residents the opportunity to make the final decision on the future governance of the council.
They have not had that chance for more than 20 years.
We hope that other councillors will support our Motion to Full Council to allow residents the opportunity to shape their own democratic future.
This is a monthly guest column provided by
Cllr Abu Sultan, leader of Bedford Borough Labour Group.
It is published unedited and does not reflect the
views of the Bedford Independent.
