Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats

The Role of Frontline Councillors

One of the shortfalls in the system of local government operating today is the role of backbenchers. This council has over 60 councillors who are not members of the Cabinet who except for sitting on a scrutiny or other committee, have very little role to play which can be seen to be making a difference. Most councillors get elected because they care about the place in which they live, and evidence has shown that one of the main reasons that the public are switched off when it comes to local elections, is because they see very little difference to their individual circumstances through their local councils - and I use the word 'council' in the broadest sense here. People don't understand in a 3 tier system which council is doing what and who is responsible for which service.

However, this Act could seek to change this, by bringing democracy nearer to home, and by giving councillors - now deemed to be 'frontline councillors' not backbenchers some real power to develop and deliver local services. And some of this could be done within the scope of the Sustainable Community Strategy - the subject of a previous long council debate.

Lucy de Groot, executive director of IDeA, advocates the future is going to be more local for councillors. Sir Michael Lyons has said that the challenge to local government has to be better and effective engagement with local people.

Most of us are already doing this, and indeed it should be second nature for those who have represented their communities for some time. We are accessible, we do hold our surgeries, and some of us go beyond this. But we do need support in our roles, and this is where the Act comes in to provide that.

The powers of scrutiny of the present system are not transparent to the public, ask any person on the street if they know about a current scrutiny review at this Council and my guess will be they know of none. But scrutiny needs to be strengthened and the Community Call for Action would mean that if there is a burning issue within a division which a councillor feels needs further investigation - then there should be a mechanism for bringing that to scrutiny. And we should not have to wait for something to come to Cabinet first before calling it in. We should be able to call for action when it needs dealing with, not when it is left too late.

We need to be able to support local councillors, who know best about the communities they represent to be able to make decisions to bring issues forward. This also gives the public a chance to have their say on the issues that matter. And this is not just for those of us in Opposition, this should appeal every one of us. I can think of many motions which have come to this Council by various members on local matters of all political persuasion - surely this would be a way of dealing with those matters through the scrutiny process rather than debating every one at Full Council.

If we are really to be 'Community Leaders' in our own right then we have to be given some responsibility and some devolved power, and that is why this motion is calling for some budget funding to enable engagement with local communities. This could mean helping to set up a youth project, or a mother and toddler group, hiring a hall for a public meeting, a whole range of possibilities - again - we are the ones best placed to decide on this. But with an allocated budget we could help to fund some of those things which just need some pump-priming to get them off the ground. And this will help to empower local people to take some responsibility for themselves. Other councils are already doing this, Somerset and Kent to name just 2. We can look at best practice elsewhere and learn from this, so let's do it. Kent, for example has an interesting paper on their website called 'Going Local' which is worth a look.

Obviously it will be up to the Cabinet to decide what amount to devolve and of course, in some areas there are 2 and in one are 3 member divisions, and this will have to be apportioned accordingly. However, trawling other council's websites who are already actively doing this, it can range anything from £2000 - £10,000, even more in some cases, but I am not asking for huge amounts.

So let us support this motion and see some real positive action on behalf of this Council to ensure that all of us have an opportunity to make a difference whether we live in towns, villages or in the centre of Oxford. We are elected to serve our communities, let us get out there and do our jobs with the added support and resources from this Council to make it happen.