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Changes to executive arrangements
All local authorities have to adopt executive arrangements which
determine how executive decision-making takes place within the
council.
Currently, each year, Medway Council's 55 elected councillors
elect a Leader.
The Leader then appoints up to nine other councillors to form a
Cabinet. The Cabinet is collectively
responsible for recommending an overall budget and the policies
that make up the council's policy framework to the Full Council.
The Cabinet then delivers and implements the budget and policies
that have been decided by the Full Council and is also the focus
for forming partnerships with other key organisations to address
local needs. The Leader and Cabinet are held to account by Overview and Scrutiny Committees which are made
up of councillors from all the political
groups represented on the council. The Mayor chairs Full Council meetings and has a
traditional ceremonial role.
Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health
Act 2007 (www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/28/contents)
local authorities have to reconsider their decision-making
arrangements.
On 4 March 2010 Full Council considered a report setting out and
comparing the two options available to the council:
- Leader and Cabinet,
- elected Mayor and Cabinet.
This report included details of the required process and
proposed programme of consultation. At this meeting councillors
agreed that consultation be undertaken on both possible forms of
executive arrangements.
Consultation results
Consultation was undertaken between March and July 2010 and
included information on the council’s website, an article in
Medway Matters and a survey of the Medway Citizens'
Panel.
Thank you to everyone who took part in our consultation and gave
us their views on whether Medway should have a Council Leader or an
elected Mayor.
The results of the consultation were presented to Full Council
on Thursday, 29 July 2010. At this meeting the council agreed to
publish proposals for the new style Leader and Cabinet.
The new Leader and the Cabinet model
Following the public consultation exercise and formal
advertisement, the council held a special meeting on Thursday, 25
November 2010 and made a formal decision to adopt the new Leader
and Cabinet model.
This is similar to the current arrangements, where Full Council
elects a councillor to become the Leader. However, with this new
model, the Leader is now elected for a period of four years instead
of one, although there is provision for the Full Council to remove
the Leader during that time. The Leader will appoint a Deputy
Leader and other executive members.
Download the new executive
arrangements (pdf 605KB) which include background
information, changes and timescales. To use this file you will need
Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it on your computer,
please use our advice
page.
Changes to the executive arrangements took effect from the third
day after the local elections in May 2011. Annual Council, on 25
May 2011, elected Councillor Rodney Chambers as Leader of the
Council for a period of four years. Details of his Cabinet can be
found on the Cabinet portfolios
page.
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