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Hastings Borough Council currently operates a 'Leader and Cabinet' Model of executive governance. We are required to review this arrangement and adopt a new model to be implemented in May 2011. Please read the proposals and send us your views before 29 October.
Under this model the Executive, comprising of a maximum of ten Borough Councillors, takes collective responsibility for the Council's day to day decision making, within the policy and budgetary framework agreed by the full Council. These decisions cover a wide variety of matters and include the award of major contracts, strategies such as the Empty Homes Strategy, the allocation of grant funding and so on.
The Council decides the policy and budgetary framework and there are some council decisions which by law are required to be made by the Council and not the Executive. Most of these decisions are delegated to a Council Committee eg Audit Committee, Licensing Committee for liquor licensing and Planning Committee for planning applications.
The Council also has two Overview and Scrutiny Committees - an overview and scrutiny committee is required by law and its role is to hold the executive to account and to advise the executive on policy. The Council's two Committees undertake an annual programme of reviews and these may relate to the Council's services as well as to external public services.
Another Council committee which it has to have is the Standards Committee and it has responsibility for promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct for members of the Council.
At its Annual Meeting in May Hastings Borough Council appoints its Cabinet for the year. The Council also elects its Leader and Deputy Leader and the Leader reports on the allocation of portfolios to members of the Cabinet. On 19 May 2010, the Council appointed a Cabinet of 9 members including the Leader and Deputy Leader. The Cabinet is made up of 5 Labour members and 4 Conservative members and this reflects the political balance between the political parties on the Council. However, whilst other committees are required to be politically balanced, this rule does not apply to Cabinet and it is possible to have a one party Cabinet. The current political balance on the Council is 17 Labour, 14 Conservative and 1 Liberal Democrat.
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 requires all district and borough councils to reconsider their executive arrangements and to adopt a new model before 31 December 2010 to be implemented from Annual Council in May 2011.
There are two models to consider:
The Strong Leader model is similar to the Council's current leader and executive arrangements. However, under the new law the Leader is elected by the Council for a period of four years or until his or her term of office expires.
Once elected the leader would be responsible for all executive functions and would decide which of these functions should be delegated to other Cabinet members, local committees or officers. The leader decides on the size of the cabinet and appoints up to nine cabinet members.
The leader would also appoint a deputy leader (who would also be a portfolio holder on the Cabinet) who would serve a four year term (or until their term of office expires). The Council would be able to remove the leader, if this is permitted by the Council's Constitution.
Other non-executive councillors would have the same roles as at present, e.g. serving on the Overview and Scrutiny Committees, Planning, Licensing, Standards and Audit Committees.
The civic role of Mayor as chair of the Council would remain the same.
Under the elected mayor option, the electors of Hastings and St Leonards would vote for a mayor who would hold office for a period of four years. Once elected the mayor would be responsible for all executive functions and would decide which of these functions were going to be delegated to other cabinet members, local committees or officers. The mayor would be in addition to the 32 councillors who currently sit on the Council.
The mayor would appoint a cabinet of a minimum of two and a maximum of nine councillors and the mayor and cabinet would take decisions on executive functions.
Other councillors would have the same functions as at present and the role of the Civic Mayor as chair of Council would remain unchanged.
The Council would not be able to remove the Mayor as is the case in the Strong Leader Model.
The Council needs to decide on which model it wishes to adopt by December 2010. The new model would then take effect at Annual Council in May 2011.
Council has agreed for the purpose of this consultation with the public that its preferred model would be Leader and Cabinet (England) and that it would retain the existing power to remove the Leader under an amended Constitution.
Some things would be quite similar under the two models.
Both the directly elected mayor and the council appointed leader would personally control all decisions in relation to the Council's executive functions. They can choose whether to make all decisions personally or for others to do so, e.g. collectively as a Cabinet, a committee of Cabinet, another individual executive member or officers.
The mayor and the leader must appoint a deputy to act on their behalf.
The main difference between the two models is the fact that the mayor is directly elected by the residents of the Borough. The Leader, although elected by residents to be a Borough Councillor in the first instance, is selected by the Council.
Some things are quite different from the present position. Under the current leader and cabinet model, Council decides the size of the Cabinet and what the membership is to be. Cabinet is not required to be politically balanced (ie the numbers of seats allocated to the political groups bears the same relationship to the number of seats each group holds on Council) and Council decides how many seats are allocated to each group. This may be all one group or politically balanced or something in between. Council then appoints those members to Cabinet and only Council can remove them by resolution. Under the Strong Leader model, once elected by Council as Leader, the Leader decides the size and constitution of Cabinet and can remove those members from Cabinet without a Council resolution. Of course, when the Strong Leader appoints the Cabinet, he or she may wish to make the decision-making body as democratic as possible by appointing a politically balanced Cabinet and delegating all executive decision making to Cabinet rather than to individual lead members (ie Cabinet members with portfolio responsibilities). The same options would be available to the elected mayor.
Q: Can the Council continue to operate under the existing executive arrangements?
A: No, this would be contrary to the legislation and would result in a new, Strong Council Leader and Cabinet Model being imposed on the Council.
Q: How often would a mayor be elected?
A: Every four years by the residents of the Borough.
Q: How often would a leader be elected?
A: The length of the Leader's term of office depends on how long he/she has left to serve as a Borough Councillor when Council elects him/her as leader.
Q: Can the Council remove the mayor or leader during their term of office?
A: The Council cannot remove the elected mayor, but it can remove the leader, if the Council's Constitution permits it. The mayor, however, could choose to resign or could be disqualified if they breached the Council's Code of Conduct.
Q: What happens to the directly elected mayor if, during their term of office, there is a change in the political balance on the Council.
A: Nothing - the mayor continues to serve the four year term of office.
Q: How much would a directly elected mayor cost?
A: It is difficult to quantify. However, a separate election would need to be held and this would cost in the region of £70,000. After election the mayor might wish to appoint a team of advisors. The position of mayor is a full time role and an allowance would need to be paid accordingly. All allowances for Councillors are determined by the Council's Independent Remuneration Panel.
Q: Does the elected mayor have to be a member of a political party?
A: The elected mayor may be a member of a political party, or they could be totally independent.
Q: Can a Borough Councillor be a mayor?
A: A Borough Councillor could stand as a mayoral candidate, but if elected would need to stand down as a Borough Councillor. The law does not permit an individual to hold both roles simultaneously.
Q: How many elected mayors are there in the United Kingdom?
A: Currently there are 12:
Q: How many councils currently operate a Council Leader and Cabinet Model?
A: 318
Q: What is the difference between the Executive Leader or the Elected Mayor and the Chief Executive of a local authority?
A: The Executive Leader and the Elected Mayor are both elected by the residents of the local authority's area. The Chief Executive heads up the staff (known as officers) of the local authority and all are employed by the Council. This is a diverse team of officers, who provide professional advice to the leadership and to the Council generally, whatever the political make-up. The Executive Leader and Elected Mayor are the political leaders and they with their executive colleagues make policy decisions which are then implemented by the Chief Executive and his staff.
Once the Council has made its decision, this will be advertised in the local press with relevant details. Implementation of the changes must then take place at Annual Council in May 2011.
Please send your comments and suggestions on the consultation before 29 October to:
Jayne Butters
Borough Solicitor
Hastings Town Hall
e-Mail: jbutters@hastings.gov.uk
Telephone: 01424 451733
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We are gathering thoughts, ideas and insights on this strategy until 20 September 2010. Please visit our Hastings Cultural Regeneration Strategy pages to have your say.
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This page last updated: 01/09/2010