Community Councils Abolished

Liberal Democrats have been calling on Labour to introduce proper neighbourhood decisions for many years. The proposed changes to create ward forums are welcomed, but the opposition has expressed concerns about the process which has not involved any local residents at all in the new plans.

Since they took power in Southwark in 2010, the Labour group have reduced the power of Community Councils to shape and improve their local areas, leading to the view that the whole system of Community Councils was not working and needed drastic reform. Under Liberal Democrat pressure, the Labour administration agreed to allow more ward-level rather than multi-ward level decision making, which will bring decisions closer to the public. The Liberal Democrat group also scored another victory by ensuring that the amount of money paid out to councillors would not rise as a result of these changes. Over recent years, Labour councillors have claimed more and more in allowances due to them increasing the number of positions that come with a payment, as well as the ‘Golden Goodbyes’ that are given to Labour Cabinet Members when they leave the post.

However, Liberal Democrats have voiced their concerns about other aspects of the changes. The reforms are supposed to be about encouraging public engagement, but they have never been subjected to any public consultation or engagement, and will essentially be imposed on the public. The Labour Administration initially sought to ensure that the ‘Empowering Community Programme’ would not voice any criticism of the Southwark Council Administration and would only pass decisions that were in agreement with the Borough Council. Southwark Liberal Democrats criticised this controlling move as unacceptable, given that the whole point of having a more localised tier of community governance is that it enables things to be done differently from the Borough-wide council. While Labour’s initial position has softened, it remains to be seen how much their controlling instincts will emerge once the changes are implemented.

Southwark will be divided into five areas, each of which will have their own ‘Empowering Community Programme’ and a ‘Community Champion’ to lead it. The middle and south of the Borough will have a Labour Councillor as their Community Champion, while the North West will have a Liberal Democrat Community Champion. The North East part of the borough currently have six Liberal Democrat and six Labour councillors. The Liberal Democrats argue that basic fairness would conclude that the position alternates between the two parties, though Labour are so far intent on overriding that principle.

Cllr Anood Al-Samerai, the leader of the Southwark Liberal Democrat Council group said:

‘Labour severely weakened Community Councils, to the point that they simply weren’t fit for purpose. These reforms are therefore an improvement and Southwark Liberal Democrats worked constructively with Labour to make them better. We also ensured it doesn’t end up as a way to give more money to councillors, as has been the case in recent years with more paid posts created and Golden Goodbyes handed out to departing Labour Cabinet members.

‘It’s not a great sign that Labour introduced new plans designed to increase public engagement while refusing to carry out any form of engagement or consultation with the public. It indicates that Labour want to keep to their centralising and dissent-crushing instincts. That said, it can be a genuine opportunity to enable better and more local decision-making and we’re determined to get involved and make the best of it’