Hale End and Highams park councillor Jane Morgan has criticised changes in the running of the local council which she believes are being forced upon residents by the government.

Cllr Morgan has hit out at both the ‘Strong Leader’ and ‘Directly Elected Mayor’ models – one of which must be introduced locally in May next year – suggesting they are “set up to place a disproportionate share of influence in the hands of just a few members”

Below is the full statement from Cllr Morgan, extracts of which are being carried in the Waltham Forest Guardian.

“I was elected to the Hale End and Highams Park ward in December last year after the sad deaths of John Beanse and Noel Penstone.  I have been involved on the fringes of politics all my life — my father was a Liberal and then a Liberal Democrat councillor for my hometown of Sittingbourne in Kent, becoming town mayor, a county councillor and eventually Chairman of Kent County Council.  You could say I have been as prepared as is perhaps possible for what comes with the role of a local councillor.

“By the time my father retired from politics, he had become increasingly disillusioned with the local political system.  He saw the dissolution of the committee system of governance, which was then replaced by the current cabinet form of local government.  He was so worried about the possibility of diminishing input from those elected to the council that he wrote an article to his local paper voicing his concerns.

“Of course, as a councillor, it is possible to help local people with specific problems through our advice surgeries and when meeting them around the ward.  In many ways this part of the role is the most satisfying.  I am lucky that I belong to a Liberal Democrat group where all councillors’ opinions are listened to and considered when our decisions are made.  However, as far as policy decisions with the local government framework is concerned, the system thrust upon local government already seems set up to place a disproportionate share of influence in the hands of just a few members. 

“Therefore I am absolutely opposed to both the new systems that are going to be imposed on Waltham Forest from next year.  Both the ‘Elected Mayor’ model and the ‘Strong Leader’ model concentrate power in the hands of even fewer people.  Whilst the Elected Mayor model does it more explicitly, the Strong Leader model simply acts as an even more concentrated version of our current cabinet system.   As a borough, we have to decide which of these models we prefer.  We cannot simply refuse to implement them.

“I believe this is another example of the way in which local democracy is being centralised and local power being shrunk.  Politicians and commentators regularly moan about low turnouts at local elections, but is it surprising when the role of the local councillor within the Town Hall appears to keep diminishing?  Any system should provide local people with a much better idea of the link between their local ward councillor and the decisions that are made within the Town Hall. 

“I will continue, alongside many of my colleagues, to voice my objections to these imposed models of local government.”

You can learn more about the options being considered to change the way your lcoal council is run – and have your say – by speaking to the Council’s Community Engagment Team on 020 8496 3000