City council to move to committee system in 2022 after governance referendum

Sheffield City Council is set to switch to a committee system after voters backed a change to the way the city council is run.

In a governance referendum last week the option of the local authority being run by one or more committees made up of elected councillors received 89,670 votes.

The option of the council continuing to be run under a Leader and Cabinet model received 48,727 votes.

Kate Josephs, Sheffield City Council Chief Executive, said: “The Governance Referendum has given the people of Sheffield the opportunity to have their say on how they would like their local council to be administered, and they have voted for a new committee system.

“This last year has presented unparalleled challenges for all of us and although we continue to navigate through the uncertainties Covid-19 has brought, we are ready to work hard to get this change in motion.”

She said the new constitution would be implemented at the Annual General Meeting of the council in May 2022.  It will mean that the current leadership model will be replaced by a politically proportionate committee system with thematic areas of decision-making responsibilities. Individual councillors will not be allowed to make decisions - all decisions will have to be considered at a meeting of a committee. 

Josephs added: “We will embrace this new way of working and make sure that we continue to serve and support the people of Sheffield, empower communities to have their say on what’s important to them and shape the future of our city together.

"We will now begin the necessary work to implement the changes and I look forward to seeing all that we can achieve together throughout this next phase.”