Liverpool Greens call for renewal of local government
01 August 2009
Liverpool's Green Councillors are calling on other parties to join them in making major savings for the taxpayer by changing to a four-year election, a reduction in the number of councillors, and a system of proportional representation.
Liverpool councillor John Coyne has written (18th July) to Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool city council, asking him to open the question of how the city elects its councillors and how many we need to have. A new law - the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 - could allow Liverpool to move to all up elections once every four years and reduce the number of councillors, for example, from 90 to 75. Green Party canvassers have found that most voters do not even know that they have three councillors for each ward and almost never know who they actually are.
The council could also use the Sustainable Communities Act to ask central government to devolve the power to introduce a form of proportional representation (2 councillors from each ward, plus 15 additional members elected on a party list).
The proposed savings from these actions could save be up to £500 000 per year.
The Executive Board Meeting of July 31st (Item 7) discussed the Medium Term Financial Plan for the coming years. The need to save seriously on local government spending is clear in every paragraph. It only seems reasonable for the council itself to take on its share of the burden.
Leader of the Green Group Cllr John Coyne said: "We could make major savings for the taxpayer by moving away from annual local elections and have one election all up every four years. In the current recession, every penny counts and those savings could be used to protect public services and jobs. If we act now, we could also ask the government to let us use a proportional voting system for those elections so that every vote will count and help voters feel more engaged in local democracy."
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