Worcester City Council announces return to committee system

Worcester City Council has published its plans to replace its Leader and Cabinet governance model with a new committee system, to be implemented in May subject to approval by full council.

Under the new proposals, drawn up with input from all parties represented on the council – which has no overall control - there would be three main “policy” committees, which would make the major decisions about priorities and spending:. These are a Policy and Resources Committee, a Communities Committee and an Environment Committee.

Each of the new committees will include members of all three parties. The chairs of each committee will also come from each of the parties. The composition of the council is currently with 17 Conservative members, 16 Labour and two Greens.

The Policy and Resources Committee would be responsible for agreeing policies and the council’s annual budget. It would also supervise the collection of Council Tax and oversee the City Plan, the cross-party vision for Worcester over the next five years.

This committee would have 12-13 members, including the leaders of each party and the chairs of the Environment and Communities Committees. For the first year it is proposed that the leader of the smallest party on the council, the Greens, chairs this committee with Labour and Conservative members filling two vice-chair posts.

The Policy and Resources Committee would have three sub-committees:

•    The Place and Economic Development sub-committee would have six members and look at issues including economic development and tourism
•    The Income Generation sub-committee would have six members and be responsible for projects for generating income for the council, fees and charges and reviewing use of the council’s property and other assets
•    The Personnel and General Purposes sub-committee would have a membership of seven and look at issues related to council staffing. A similar committee already exists under the council’s current system.

The Communities Committee would cover issues including housing and homelessness; sport and leisure; museums, heritage and culture; community safety; health and wellbeing; and CCTV. It would also oversee the Worcestershire Museums shared service and Freedom Leisure, the contractor that operates the councils’ sport and leisure centres. Between 11 and 12 members would sit on this committee.

The Environment Committee would oversee issues including parks and open spaces; play areas; cemeteries and the crematorium; allotments; waste and recycling collections; street cleansing; and parking. Between 11 and 12 members would sit on this committee.
It is proposed that the chairs of the Communities Committee and the Environment Committee would come from each of the two largest parties, with each vice-chair from a different political group.

Each of the three policy committees would be able to set up task and finish groups and working parties to look at specific issues. The policy committees would also monitor the performance of the council’s services.

Membership and the chairs of each committee and sub-committee would be agreed at the Annual Council meeting on May 16.

The council will continue to have a Leader, who would act as its spokesperson and be a representative on external bodies including the City Plan Delivery Board and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The Leader would also be appointed at the Annual Council meeting, alongside a Deputy Leader who – while the council has no overall control – would be from a different party to the Leader.

There are no proposed changes to the council’s four regulatory committees – Licensing and Environmental Health; Planning; Audit; and Governance and Standards.

Tim O’Gara, the council’s Monitoring Officer, said: “The move to a committee system will be a major change for the City Council, affecting every aspect of how vital decisions are made on the excellent services that residents expect from us.”