Councillors have agreed to press ahead with plans to end decision-making in multi-party committees and replace them with a one-party ‘cabinet’.
The decision comes despite concerns from Cambridge City Council’s Lib Dem and Green councillors over the impact on democracy.
However, the ruling Labour group says this is a common way of working in other councils around the country, with nine out of 10 councils using this system.
Now, a new councillor-led working group will be established, with members from all political parties, to design the new decision-making model for Cambridge.
Cllr Karen Young (Lib Dem, Queen Edith’s) told the authority’s annual council meeting on Thursday (23 May): “The fact that most councils still have a leader/cabinet model is more due to inertia and the press of other priorities than a positive vote in favour of this model.
“The most compelling advantage of a committee system is perhaps that it enables enhanced democratic participation.
“The leader/cabinet model is designed to exclude these other voices in the name of speeding up decision-making.”
Cllr Naomi Bennett (Green, Abbey) said that in the corporate world business were “turning their backs” on the “old master/commander style of leadership” and are embracing “more collaborative models”.
“We have a need for change, but the most effective way to do that is always to work within your existing structures and change cultures,” she said.
Cllr Sam Carling (Labour, West Chesterton) responded: “We’re voting on whether to progress with designing a new governance model based on the leader and cabinet framework and it is not the same as a final decision.
“Now it’s fair to say that if we do go ahead today, we would be likely to take that decision. But if we do go down the route, designing a model under that framework, and we somehow find it’s completely unworkable and doesn’t meet our needs as a council, there is a way out.”
Following a review of the council’s governance and decision-making process by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) in 2022 – which recommended it modernise and simplify its governance arrangements and make decision-making more transparent – a cross-party Governance Reference Group of councillors was set up in August 2023 to develop a new approach.
The current model was described by the CfGS as a ‘hybrid-hybrid’ model of governance which is unique to Cambridge and is not in use by any other local authority.
The final proposals from the councillor-led working group will be presented to the authority’s civic affairs committee in 2025 before being presented for agreement at a meeting of the full council. The new model would then come into effect at the annual council meeting in May 2025.
