• JOHN Lawson has stated what many Camden residents think – the borough’s councillors are ineffective, (Councillors squeak when they should roar! March 21).

However there are councillors who really do try to defend the interests of their ward residents. The problem for these conscientious members is that ordinary backbench councillors have absolutely no power and executive members have only a small amount of power.

This situation was created by the first Tony Blair government, when it passed the Local Government Act 2000. This required local authorities to change from the traditional committee-based system of decision making to an executive model. Councils were allowed to choose one of three systems:

1. leader and cabinet executive (the Camden choice);

2. mayor and cabinet executive;

3. mayor and council manager executive (repealed in 2007).

Under the new arrangements, backbench councillors fulfilled the overview and scrutiny roles. Essentially this replicated the system which worked fairly well in the national parliament.

However no provision was made for the creation of a support structure for councillors similar to that which allows MPs to successfully carry out their roles in the Commons’ select committees.

At the national level, the select committees have members who are full-time legislators with research and specialist advice available. At the local level, the scrutiny committees have part-time councillors with no research and little independent specialist advice available.

The councillors are left to sink or swim on their own. As a result power has been taken away from the council as a whole and given to the cabinet without any effective oversight.

Actually the situation is worse. The executive members of the cabinet are also part-timers without independent research and advice. They are in no position to make objective judgments on policies proposed by officers.

Thus much of the power wielded by councillors in the traditional form of local government has been transferred to unelected officers. Local democracy has obviously been severely weakened.

It is not necessary to meekly accept this loss of local democracy. The first David Cameron government made it possible for larger councils to revert to the traditional local authority method of operation (see Localism Act 2011).

The size limit for this is a population of greater than 85,000. The Camden population is three times this limit. The disillusioned, dissatisfied, powerless, backbench Camden councillors can turn the clock back if they act together. If they do so we will all gain.

ALAN TEMPLETON
Honeybourne Road, NW6