Agenda item

Report of the Leader

The Leader introduced the item, telling Members that the Electoral Commission had identified CBC as requiring an electoral review as there had been none since 2000/01 and there were some distinct variations in its wards. The initial stage of an electoral review was to determine the number of Councillors required to deliver effective and convenient local government.

In a recent Member survey carried out in March 2022 to support the electoral review, 69% of respondents thought that 40 Councillors was an appropriate number for the borough. Elected Members who took part in the working group also requested that two other issues be considered as context for the electoral review:

-       the drive for a more diverse and representative set of councillors – with 92% of councillors already spending over 15 hours a week on council business, and almost a quarter feeling that the time spent on council business was unmanageable, any increase in workloads would deter younger people of working age from becoming councillors;

-       community needs – Members are spending a significant amount of time on community issues, supporting residents facing challenges with fuel, food and transport costs.

There are particular needs and issues in the more deprived wards that require particular attention and time, and in view of the fact that Cheltenham has the county’s greatest extremes between its most and least deprived communities, the Overview and Scrutiny committee has agreed to set up a specific scrutiny task group to review whether CBC’s policies and service delivery are targeted at working with communities to help them address the causal factors of multiple deprivation and working with other stakeholders to ensure that their efforts are similarly targeted.

The recent Member Survey revealed that:

-       92% of respondents spent more than 15 hours a week on council duties;

-       of these, 27% spend 30% or more of their time reading papers in preparation for borough council meetings and 50% on constituency issues;

-       77% of respondents considered the time they spent on council activities was manageable;

-       50% of respondents did not receive a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA);

-       50% of Members who do receive an SRA spent fewer than five hours and 50% spent more than 15 hours on the additional workload.

Given the Council’s responsibilities, it was considered that a continuation of 40 Councillors will give the Council sufficient capacity to effectively operate its current governance and decision-making arrangements, ensuring proper and timely consideration and making of decisions and sufficient representation on Committees and Sub-Committees. In additional, a council of 40 members ensured sufficient capacity to accommodate absences or unavailability without significant detrimental impact.

In response to a Member’s question, the Leader confirmed thatthe county council was not used as a benchmark in terms of number of residents per councillor, as the county was not being considered as part of this review.

In debate, Members made the following points:

-       the council had an obligation to properly represent residents; it was good to note that CBC’s age demographics are better than other comparable councils, and there were more women councillors – but we can always do better;

-       it would be folly to reduce the number of Members – CBC already exceeds the number of residents per councillor seen in neighbouring authorities, and with several upcoming major developments, the town will only get larger; it could be that more than 40 councillors will be needed in the future;

-       Members who represent more affluent areas of the town may have a smaller workload than those who represent more deprived wards, which could give them an unrealistic view of the whole council’s workload;

-       it was important to have a broad variety of skills amongst councillors, and to ensure the local political system is open and inclusive to people from diverse backgrounds.  The workload for some councillors was already incompatible with full-time employment, depending on the ward they represented, and paperwork and preparation for some committees takes up a significant amount of time;

-       although diversity is to be encouraged and welcomed, the wide knowledge, experience and expertise of older councillors is also vital – for many people, serving the community is a real calling, not just a job;

-       borough councillors take on a lot of work that county councillors cannot do.

Members of the Conservative group took a different view to their fellow Members, saying that they had always advocated a reduction in the number of councillors, looking at the model set by the county council – there are four borough councillors for every county councillor, even though many of CBC’s services have been outsourced.  One Member felt the data to be inadequate, and that an assessment based on the number of hours worked was misleading – these may be duplicated and not carried out as effectively as they could be.  He felt a more holistic approach was required. 

The Leader summed up by saying it was important not to make this a political debate, and that the situation must be approached on its merits. It had been good to hear the viewpoints of councillors of various ages, and there were ways to reduce member workloads (e.g. hybrid working, virtual meetings), but the effect of this was always limited, for instance by the government’s decision to end virtual meetings. The report was just one step on a larger journey, and there was still plenty of work to do. CBC would be bound by whatever decision the Boundary Commission make, but she hoped they would take the recommendations on board.

RESOLVED THAT

-       the submission of Appendix 2 to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England on the proposed council size be approved

(For: 26; Against: 0; Abstentions:7)