The national body that represents Councils in England and Wales, the Local Government Association, has backed calls to retain Sheffield’s Committee System.
In June Labour Local Government Minister, Jim MacMahon in a Ministerial Statement said
“The government plans to legislate to abolish the committee system, requiring those councils currently operating this model to transition to the leader and cabinet model (which the vast majority of councils in England already currently operate)”
At the July Full Council meeting, Councillors voted overwhelmingly to support a Green Motion calling on the Government call to abandon plans to abolish the Committee system.
The Local Government Association has now agreed the following position
“Currently, 38 councils operate under a committee governance system, with several having held democratic referenda to arrive at this position in recent years. It isn’t right for these democratic decisions to be disregarded. Councils using the committee system should be allowed to retain their governance system until they or their communities choose to move to a leader/cabinet model.”
Councillor Angela Argenzio, Leader of the Green Group on Sheffield City Council said,
“ I am really pleased that we have the support of the Local Government Association to retain the Committee system in Sheffield. It is really important to have the backing of the voice of all Councils across the country.
“Sheffielders, overwhelmingly voted to abolish the unrepresentative Cabinet System, which has served our city so badly. They should not be ignored. In Sheffield we have seen what happens when only a few Councillors can vote on important decisions. The Street Tree scandal showed us that. “The views of Sheffielders, who voted 65% to 35% to get rid of the less democratic Cabinet system should be respected.
“All Councillors should be able to vote on the decisions that affect the City. A system that has been working well in Sheffield should not be abolished by a remote Labour Government. This is why having the support of the body that represents all Local Government is so important.”
