Liberal Democrat councillors have expressed their concern at major changes to the way the Council will be run, and are asking local residents to share their views.

Government legislation dictates that the Council must adopt one of two new ‘models’ of local government, both of which Liberal Democrat councillors fear could lead to an even greater centralisation of decision making on behalf of residents.

The Government have told councillors that they must opt for either a ‘directly elected mayor’ or a ‘strong leader’ model.  The new set-up will then be introduced after the local elections on May 6th next year.  The directly elected mayor model, which is used in Newham and Hackney, sees the mayor hold all executive powers and control the appointment of cabinet members.  The strong leader model is more similar to the current arrangement but further strengthens the powers of the Council Leader.  The decision will be put out to public consultation but councillors have been told they must make a decision by the end of this year.

Local Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr John Macklin said:

“Obviously we have our concerns that the only two options being presented both leave the potential for much greater centralisation of decision making.

“My experiences of being part of the Council have reaffirmed my belief that better decisions are made with a greater scope for input from councillors and residents alike.  Putting a large amount of power in the hands of one person may well make it easier for them to make decisions, but I believe it also means there is an increased chance that poor decisions will be made that don’t reflect all relevant sides of a debate.

“Lib Dems pride themselves on being community councillors, and the link between ward councillors and residents is hugely important.  But if the potential for input from ward councillors continues to decrease, what faith can residents have that their local representative can have any impact upon the actual decision making process? 

“Waltham Forest isn’t like many of the boroughs who have centralised their decision making processes.  We are an enormously diverse area and the political makeup of the Council reflects that.  Unlike some boroughs with directly elected mayors such as Newham, no political party has had a majority of councillors in our area for quite some time now. 

“The strong leader model is closer to our current position, which in itself is one that has understandably drawn criticism, and our hands are tied to an large extent by what the government wants.  However a Council Leader could work within this new model to give away an enormous amount of that power to ensure that properly representative decision-making could be made.  This would be one of a Liberal Democrat-led council’s first priorities.”