A RADICAL overhaul of the way Worcestershire County Council is run has been thrown out by the ruling Conservative administration.
Green councillor Coun Matthew Jenkins, who represents St Stephen Ward, called for the cabinet system of governance at County Hall to be scrapped in favour of a committee system.
Under his proposals, the current cabinet would be disbanded in favour of a series of committees featuring councillors from all parties.
Speaking at a meeting of the council on Thursday (January 12), Coun Jenkins said his proposal would ensure the authority was run in the ‘best way’.
“How do we ensure this council represents all the views from all the councillors across the county? How do we ensure decisions are properly debated before they are made?” he said.
Coun Jenkins said decisions were currently being made by ‘seven or eight’ councillors and said more councillors should be involved in the process.
Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors lent their support to the proposals but Labour’s Coun Richard Udall proposed an amendment to let the authority’s scrutiny committee examine the best way forward.
“I think we should all be concerned about signing up to something before we know what it will look like,” he said.
The amendment was accepted by Coun Jenkins who agreed with Coun Udall’s claim the county council needed a consensus before making a change to its structure.
In response, Coun Anthony Blagg, deputy leader and cabinet member for the environment, said the Conservative group would vote against the motion.
“There are only three out of 34 county councils at the moment which has the committee system; Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Nottinghamshire, none of them have one party in control so it would be wrong to say this is widely popular.
“We have a clear mandate from the electorate to form an administration and at a time when the local budget situation is tight we need more than ever strong leadership to be shown.
“This council is having to fight our corner for our fair share of the financial and infrastructure cake,” he added.
The proposals were defeated after 28 councillors voted against the motion with 23 voting to back the plans.
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