Council should be held to account by voters

WARRINGTON Borough Council should be elected in thirds, three years out of every four, as at present, according to the opposition Liberal Democrat group.
The system offers the best opportunity for the public to hold the ruling party to account and is preferable to the only alternative – “all-out” elections every four years – which would leave voters having no say on the performance of the council in between times.
Cllr Ian Marks (pictured), leader of the Liberal Democrat group said: “We believe there is a very strong case for leaving the timing of elections unchanged.”
At an extraordinary meeting of the council on January 26 there was a vote in favour of increasing the number of councillors at Warrington from 57 to 58 and another vote agreeing to a public consultation on the method of election.
Deadline for replies to the consultation is Friday February 27..
Cllr Marks said he did not believe the ruling Labour group had made a case for increasing the number of councillors.
He said: “The argument that councillors have an increased workload so there needs to be more of them is nonsense because nobody can measure workload within two per cent, which is the increased effort available with another councillor.
“You can argue that at a time when there are cuts in council services, there is a case for actually reducing the number of councillors, not increasing it.
“We think the whole process is flawed because any decision on the size of the council and the method of election is closely tied to the make-up of the wards. But a decision on ward boundaries will not be made for several months.
“We believe there is a very strong case for leaving the timing of elections unchanged. Frequent elections allow residents to pass judgement on their councillors and hold them to account. It forces councillors to talk to the public and keeps them on their toes. Most people think that local issues should affect local councils. This is much more likely with more frequent elections.
“People get out of the voting habit if they only vote every four years and it means 18-year-olds may have several years before they can vote for the first time.
“If there is a big change in councillors every four years, there would be a huge loss of experience which could be very disruptive to policy and decision making.
“Admittedly there would be a cost saving with less frequent elections but this is less than £34,000 a year which is a small price to pay for democracy.
“I urge people to join in the consultation and support our campaign by visiting the website www.warrington.gov.uk/boundaryreview or ringing the council on 443322.”