Thursday, 24 December 2015

West Dorset District Council >>> cabinet system to be challenged by popular referendum

Fundamental Principles of Public First Group
We are a non-party-political group, with specific objectives which we would like to see debated democratically and then adopted, where they have been voted on or where it is the clear democratic will that they should be. When there is a public meeting it is thePublic who speak first, and for most of the time available. Current top priority was to achieve 4,069 signings to the Petition, which when verified, will trigger a referendum under the Localism Act 2011 on moving West Dorset District Council back from a ‘Cabinet’ to a ‘Committee’ form of governance. This number of signings has now been exceeded and a strong buffer of signings is taking place without any further pro-activity by the campaign team – new signings arrive each day and agaist an internal taret of 5,000 (to ensure safety of numbers) the number of signings is now over 6,000 and climbing

Examples: Voting in Dorchester, Jan. 7th: 248 against Cabinet government locally – only 2 were for it. At the Bridport meeting on February 20th again only 2 people who wanted to stay with a Cabinet govt. locally.

Public First Group is an association established as a non-party-political organisation to improve Democracy in West Dorset, and Dorset through system change. It is undertaking a ‘Campaign for Local Democracy’.

It will seek to achieve, by petition and subsequent referendum, a change from the current Cabinet system to a Committee-based system of governance for West Dorset District Council. This option is provided for under the Localism Act 2011.
It will strive to achieve agreement for an urgent, detailed investigation by West Dorset District Council (and/or Dorset County Council) of the costs/benefits of Dorset becoming one unitary authority.

publicfirstgroup.co.uk

The campaign has been successful:

Cabinet or committee - you decide!

West Dorset set for governance

referendum on May 5

Public First group welcomes the referendum news

Tuesday 15 December 2015 / News

WEST Dorset set to get referendum on governance style in May.

After months of campaigning, and following a hand in of a petition totalling more than 6,000 signatures, Public First Group and West Dorset District Council have now confirmed a referendum will take place next May 5.

Public First said they want to see the council change from a cabinet- style system to a committee style and is using powers under the Localism Act 2011, that require such matters to go out to referendum once a petition is backed by more than five per cent of the electorate.

They had aimed to get 4,069 signatures to reach the five per cent benchmark but once that was reached they carried on to create a ‘buffer,’ in case any of the signatures are questioned in the validating process.

It has been confirmed that the referendum will take place on Thursday, May 5, 2016.

Petition manager John Grantham said: “We’re absolutely delighted. We’re very grateful to all who have so keenly supported this campaign and we are also grateful to the Electoral Services team for completion prior to Christmas.

“When the referendum comes people of all parties and political persuasions will have the opportunity to vote for a more democratic committee system of governance. We believe West Dorset is second only to Fylde Borough Council in achieving a referendum, which they won, under the Localism Act, to revert to a committee system.

“Although at Canterbury, as the city council saw a public petition making strong headway, their council decided voluntarily to convert back to the committee system and avoided the cost to the community of running a referendum.”

He added: “It’s not about party politics. It’s about a fairer, more democratic, more proportionate and open, system of governance being re-introduced, and one that uses better the skills of all the councillors elected into council.’ Mr Grantham said the group would campaign over the coming months examining the strengths of the committee over the cabinet system.

Cabinet or committee - you decide! West Dorset set for governance referendum on May 5 (From Dorset Echo)

As confirmed in a letter in today's Independent - spotted by the East Devon Watch:

Power to the voters

Some of us here in Dorset have laboured for a year raising a petition to put an end to the “cabinet rule of law”’ that reigns supreme in West Dorset District Council (WDDC). We now have enough signatures to force a referendum giving the electorate an opportunity to vote for a change to “committee” governance.

In 2011, from 43 per cent of votes cast, Conservatives were elected to 67 per cent seats of seats available in WDDC. Seven of these councillors occupied all of the executive seats. The national figures at the last general election were worse; the Tories were elected on about 25 per cent of eligible votes. In essence, West Dorset’s main towns are unrepresented politically; not one of their elected representatives sits on WDDC’s executive committee.

What sort of democracy do we live in when it has become necessary for citizens to demand that their representatives have a voice in decision-making?

Politicians talk only in ideological “tongues” but invariably display an insatiable hunger for power. Unless we pull together for proportional representation and make politicians listen not only to us, but more importantly to each other, party politics will continue to divide and betray us.

Mike Joslin

Dorchester, Dorset

Letters: Dark corners of the global tax system | Letters | Voices | The Independent
Only the district has been changed …. | East Devon Watch
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