Green call for change dismissed by council leader

The leader of a council has dismissed a call to change the way decisions are made.

North Yorkshire Council has been urged to move towards a committee system by Green Party councillors who claim it would be more democratic.

Decisions are currently made via a leader and cabinet system, with the Conservative and Independents group, which has the majority of councillors, appointing the leader and members of an executive committee.

Although decisions are agreed by the full council, critics claim the ruling group will always get their way due to their majority.

Councillor Arnold Warneken, Green Party member for Ouseburn, spoke out after 19 opposition councillors walked out of a full council meeting in February, in protest at last-minute amendments announced by the executive without other members being notified in advance.

Warneken said this would not have happened if the authority used a modern committee system, where councils are run by politically-balanced committees.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service around 30 councils in England use this system.

"The Conservatives have been making all the decisions at North Yorkshire Council for more than 20 years," he said.

"It doesn't have to be that way - all parties can be heard.

"We need to be making decisions out in the open, not behind closed doors."

Warneken said most people do not realise that people can "demand a different style of governance that is more democratic".

"They can do that at any time – they don't have to wait for an election."

Conservative council leader Carl Les said this issue was "often raised by minority parties who sought a larger voice than the election has provided them".

He added: "We should note that the Green group get a seat on every committee presently - other than the executive - which is much more numerate than their four out of 90 is proportionate.

"The executive system has been in place for nearly 25 years now, not just since 2014."

Les said the current system replaced a committee system which was "cumbersome and bureaucratic, and slow at reaching decisions".

He added: "In the end, whatever the Greens say, any decision will be made by majority vote.

"If they want to change the system, then they need to win more seats at an election - whereupon they can.

"In the meantime, there is nothing to stop them working with any group, including the majority group, to come up with ideas we can all support."

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