AREA COMMITTEES SHAKE UP

The future of Area Committees was thrown into doubt during a heated debate at the May Full Council.

Proposals by the Conservative administration meant that Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of Area Committees would be appointed by the Council rather than the Committees themselves and that meetings will be scaled back to two a year (January and July) to take place at either the Town Hall or Langtons in Hornchurch.

However, with little information as to how the Area Committees would work, the Residents Association proposed an amendment that would see the proposal placed before the Governance Committee* for full consideration and agreement by representative of all groups on the Council before coming back to Full Council with greater detail.

Despite debating the matter, the conservatives refused the proposal and pressed ahead with the changes.

Cllr Clarence Barrett, Leader of the Residents' Association (RA, Cranham), who presented the amendment, said: All we are told, after no consultation, is that the Area Committees will meet twice a year at Langtons or in Romford Town Hall, the Highways function will no longer form part of the Area Committee and the Chairs and Vice Chairs will be elected by the Council and not by the Area Committees themselves.

“This tells us very little but leaves a lot of unanswered questions as to how the Area Committees will function under this new arrangement. For example; Why remove local venues in favour of central venues and how will this arrangement engage the local community? Why can't the Area Committees elect the Chairs and Vice Chairs themselves? What will happen to the £5,000 Area Committee funding and the £45,000 central pot? How will emerging issues be dealt with that require urgent public input? And – very importantly - have residents been asked what they would like to see?

“Rather than adopt a strategy of act now and think later, it would be better for a greater degree of consultation to make sure we end up with something that is more likely to work than something that is more likely to fail”.

27.5.10

* Governance Committee is made up of 11 councillors (7 Conservative, 2 Residents, 1 Labour and 1 Ind. Rainham) and considers issues that determine how the Council is run.