Member orientated institutions

The switch to the executive model of local government was meant to lead to a radical reduction in the number of meetings, and also the ability to redeploy the not insignificant amount of senior officer time that was consumed in servicing that structure. Yet visit most town or county halls and you find almost the same plethora of meetings, now re-titled as some special subgroup or task force or some such.

We believe that we lose vital good will and effective leadership from our councillors when we don't put their contribution at the heart of what a council does.

This means councils need to look at the time commitment of a councillor (akin to a non-executive director of a PLC), their resources, their priorities, and the ways for councillors to continuously develop and acquire skills.