Well, the Council met on Wednesday 9th December to consider its proposals for the new form of governance.
These proposals, as required by the Act, were published in the November issue of Bolton Scene in an article on Page 2.
The article read as follows:-
Bolton Scene Nov 2009. Publication of proposals.
How Council Decisions will be made
The way the Council is governed is to change next year
Proposals to have the Council directed by a 'new style' leader & cabinet have been approved by the Councils Executive
They will now go to the full Council next month
the 'new style' leader and cabinet will see a councillor elected as leader of the executive for up to four years by the full council
The length of term of the leader will be determined by how long is left before he or she has to stand for election again.
Between two and nine councillors will be appointed to the executive by the leader who will also decide their roles and responsibilities
The leader will also appoint a deputy leader
There will still be a ceremonial mayor
At the moment the council is governed by a leader and an executive.
The full council (a meeting where all the councillors can attend) decides who the leader is, who the members of the executive are and their roles and responsibilities.
The system was introduced in 2000 following national legislation to change the old committee model of government.
Voters will still elect councillors to represent them and their areas.
New national legislation - the Local Government and involvement in public Health act 2007 - means the Council has to change the way it is governed by May next year.
End of Article
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Actually, quite a lot happened on the day of the Council Meeting.
Having been thwarted by Alan Eastwood in communicating with all 60 Councillors through the Town Hall distribution system, I re-hashed the e-mail and painfully sent it to each individual e-mail address.
This went as follows. Most of this is known to you but I record this so that it is known what information the Councillors had prior to the meeting.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION 7th Sept -4th Oct 2009
Dear Councillor
May I bring the following to your attention and would you forgive me for the detail - that is where the devil is.
Firstly, may I state that I could be wrong in what I am asserting in this e-mail since I am no expert at wading though Acts of Parliament. I leave that to your judgement.
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This Wednesday, recommendations will be put to the full Bolton Council meeting on the form of Executive that it proposes to operate after next May.
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The Primary Legislation upon which this is based is the Local Government Act 2000. This Act required a change from the previous Committee system to one of three options.
Elected Mayor + Cabinet
Leader + Cabinet
Elected Mayor + Council Manager
I am not privy to the details, but as a consequence of this Act Bolton Council adopted the option that it currently operates.
Section 25 of the Act lays down a procedure to be followed.
Section 25, Sub Section (2) states the following:-
"Before drawing up proposals under this section, a local authority must take reasonable steps to consult the local government electors for, and other interested persons in, the authority’s area."
Section 38 Subsection (1) requires:-
"A local authority must have regard to any guidance for the time being issued by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this Part."
The guidance for this purpose was issued by the then Department of Transport Environment & Regions in October 2000 under the heading ' New Council Constitutions - Consultation Guidelines for English Local Authorities'
This can be downloaded from the following Government Website.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/newcouncilconstitutions3
This document comprises 58 pages.
Again I assume that the public consultation at the time of the original change was in line with this guidance.
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In 2007, the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 amended and added to the provisions of the 2000 Act.
First of all, for English Authorities, it removed the third option of Elected Mayor and Council Manager.
Secondly it introduced the means by which an English Local Authority could change from the Executive Arrangements it had introduced following the 2000 Act to a different form.
This was done by amending the 2000 Act by adding the following- Quote
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Section 64 Changing governance arrangements
After section 33 of the Local Government Act 2000 (c. 22) insert—
“Changing governance arrangements: general provisions.
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There then follows Sections 33A to 33O which are added to the 2000Act
Section 33A states:-
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Executive arrangements: different form of executive
A local authority in England which is operating executive arrangements may—
(a) vary the arrangements so that they provide for a different form of executive, and
(b) if it makes such a variation, vary the arrangements in such other respects (if any) as it considers appropriate.
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This is the Section under which the current changes in the operation of Bolton Councils Executive Arrangements are proceeding.
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Section 33E, Sub section (6) states:-
"Before drawing up its proposals, the local authority must take reasonable steps to consult the local government electors for, and other interested persons in, the authority’s area."
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This is the identical wording to that in Section 25 Sub Section (2) of the original Act.
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So after 2007, the Local Government Act of 2000, as amended, states both in Section 25 and Section 33E:-
"Before drawing up its proposals, the local authority must take reasonable steps to consult the local government electors for, and other interested persons in, the authority’s area."
It is my contention that tt cannot be the case that the Guidelines referred to previously which apply to Section 25 do not apply to Section 33E - both in the same Act.
The Guidelines which apply to Section 25 ( and in my contention to Section 33E) have not (to my knowledge) been rescinded, deleted or amended.
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This is the knub of the problem which I bring to your attention.
Should you trouble to read the Guidelines, then it becomes obvious that the recent consultation organised by Bolton Council between 7th Sept and 4th October comes nowhere near to satisfying the spirit or letter of the Guidelines.
Alan Eastwood has stated the following ( after quoting the provisions of Section 33):-
"Despite the above being included within the Act it does not provide either for any specific form of consultation or for any specific consultation period. In addition the department for Communities and Local Government decided not to issue any guidance to Local Authorities as to what the Department considers would constitute 'reasonable steps'. As a result, each Local Authority has had to reach its own decision as to the form and level of public consultation that it considers to be appropriate."
He is saying that the Guidelines which apply to Section 25(2) don't and were never intended to apply to Section 33(6) in spite of the fact that both Sections are in the same Act and contain the same wording.
I presume that he has received clarification from the Department for Communities and Local Government that he is correct (and thus I am incorrect) and has not, for whatever reason, just assumed that the Guidance doesn't apply .
If, in fact, I am correct, then it could well be that Bolton Council have failed to satisfy the provisions of the Act so far and thus cannot proceed to the next stage.
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In any event, a public consultation method which produces a response from just 0.2% of the electorate must, as a consultation, be viewed to have been hopelessly organised let alone a waste of time and money. The poor response cannot, in my view, just be put down entirely to the apathy of the residents.
The consultation didn't even involve those most important meetings between the Council and public - i.e the Area Forums. (At least not in my locality)
The consultation wasn't, according to the Guidelines, just to do with the electors. How the Council is organised is also important for other 'stakeholders'
Why were not the views sought of the local Chamber of Trade, the local Trades Unions, The Residents Associations, the Council of Mosques, other Church Bodies etc etc??
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Finally, a point which I most indignant about.
On Tuesday 1st December I tried to send a similarly worded e-mail on this subject to all the Elected Members by the more convenient method of asking Claire Atkinson to circulate it.
Two days later I received a response from Alan Eastwood stating that he was reluctant to circulate my e-mail to yourselves since 'the information contained within it is incorrect'
To put it mildly I was furious - and I still am.
What right has an 'employee' of the Council, of whatever status, to interfere with a communication between a local elector and the elected representatives of Bolton Metro residents.?
Why was this shown to him in the first place?
What other e-mails are you not getting or is it just to do with this subject?
I have no doubt whatsoever that half the e-mails you receive from electors contain incorrect information - but that is for you to judge and if you think, or know, in this case that I am wrong, to dismiss or ignore what I am saying.
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So, as I said at the beginning - I could be wrong in what I am asserting.
I am confident that you will form your own judgement.
Yours Respectfully and Sincerely etc etc
End of e-mail.
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On the 7th Dec I received replies from 5 Councillors commenting in various ways but nevertheless thanking me for the information.
A further 3 responses were received on the 9th Dec - the day of the meeting - the last being at 4.29pm.
Within the hour I was informed that Alan Eastwood had circulated an e-mail to all the Councillors at 4.26 pm - two & a half hours before the meeting was due to start.
This e-mail read as follows:-
Dear Councillors,
I understand that Paul Richardson has contacted a number of you regarding the proposals on the new Governance arrangements which appear on the agenda for Council this evening. Please see the e-mail below which I sent to Mr Richardson in response to his request that I circulate his view of consultation and guidance in this regard.
If I can be of further assistance, do not hesitate to contact me.
Alan R Eastwood
As stated above this e-mail included the original reply to me on 3rd December as follows:-
Dear Mr Richardson,
I refer to your e-mail which you sent to Claire Atkinson dated 1 December 2009 requesting that the information you have provided be circulated to all Elected Members. I am afraid that I am reluctant to circulate your e-mail, as the information contained within it, is incorrect. The guidance to which you refer was issued in respect of new Council Constitutions which came into force in 2000 and brought in the initial Cabinet/Executive Model along side others. This guidance does not relate to the current consultation and in fact, no guidance was issued in this regard. I hope this clarifies the position.
End of e-mail
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A classic move to shut down any doubts in the Councillors' minds at the last minute!!
I thought 'two can play at this game' and duly flashed off the following to all 60 Councillors:-
Dear Councillor
I have just had sight of the e-mail Mr Eastwood has circulated to you which includes his response to the e-mail from me that he felt unable to circulate.
May I also thank each of you who have taken the time to reply to me.
Regarding the matter of the Consultation, in the e-mail to yourselves, Mr Eastwood merely states his position without responding to the detail or logic of my argument, Frankly, I don't think he has answered the any of the points I have made.
Beyond this, I have had some indication that it is not universally understood amongst all Elected Members what the purpose of the changes is or what the implications of these changes are on the ability of 'backbench' Councillors to influence decisions on behalf of the electors of their wards might be.
I assume that every implication has been adequately explained to you.
All I can say is that, where I in your position, I wouldn't easily support anything that I didn't fully appreciate the consequences of and perhaps would consider withholding my support or opposition until such time as I did.
May I wish you all the best in your deliberations.
Yours respectfully
Paul Richardson
End of e-mail
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One of the responses I had received was from the Liberal Democrat Councillor Barbara Ronson who included a copy of the Amendment to the motion to be debated in the name of her colleague David Wilkinson. The amendment read as follows:-
Amendment in the name of Councillor D A Wilkinson:
Addition of paragraph
"That in approving this Motion, Council wishes to put on record that constant Government inspired tinkering with local democratic processes does nothing to improve Council performance and merely serves to erode local decision making.”
I was informed on the 10th December that the Proposals and the Amendment were passed unanimously by the Council.
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Next Blog - More correspondence in and to the Bolton News.
After that - Was this change of governance demanded by the Government or was it the choice of the Council.?
Paul
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