P-04-666 Democracy in Local Government
P-04-666 Democracy in Local Government
This
petition was submitted by Royston Jones, having collected 144 signatures.
Text of the Petition
In
recent years we have observed a trend in Welsh local government that has seen
unelected officers effectively take control of local authorities.
This
is invariably achieved with the connivance of a small group of councillors who
commit their loyalty to senior officers rather than to the council to which
they were elected and those living within the local authority area.
A
phenomenon that raises a number of concerns.
1.
When power is exercised by senior officers and elected representatives are,
effectively, excluded from the decision-making process then, clearly, the
democratic process has been undermined, and democratic accountability lost.
2.
Excluding the majority of the elected representatives from any role other than
the cosmetic must call into question why cash-strapped councils need to pay so
much money in various forms to political eunuchs.
We
therefore call on the Welsh Government to be aware of this threat to local
democracy and where it becomes clear that senior officers are exerting an
unhealthy and undemocratic influence over the running of any local authority to
warn that authority publicly that decision-making powers rest solely with the
elected representatives and, where such a warning is not heeded, to take that
authority into special measures.
Additional information
Senior
local government officers, no matter what their qualifications or how inflated
their salaries, remain employees of the council and servants to the electorate
and the wider population. That they should subvert democracy by taking over the
running of the local authorities that employ them is both unacceptable and
dangerous.
Yet
this is the situation we find in a number of our local authorities, but for
reasons best known to itself the Welsh Government has turned a blind eye to the
situation, even though the problem of officer domination has been obvious for a
number of years.
Assembly Constituency and
Region
• Dwyfor Meirionydd
• Mid and West Wales
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: For consideration
First published: 13/01/2016