Council agrees change to decision making process

Canterbury City Council is to move to the leader and cabinet system for decision making, shifting away from the committee system.

At a Full Council meeting last Thursday (15 July), city councillors voted in favour of the change and also agreed to carry out public consultation on how the leader and cabinet system should be configured.

The change will come into effect in May 2022, giving the council around 10 months to carry out the consultation on the configuration, agree the model that will be put in place and make the necessary preparations.

Council Leader, Cllr Ben Fitter-Harding, said: "I believe that the leader and cabinet system has greater benefits for transparency, accountability and scrutiny than the committee model and am pleased that this is going to be the way forward for Canterbury district.

"The most important thing now is that local people get fully involved in the forthcoming consultation on the exact leader and cabinet system we put in place.

"There are different options for how we structure it and I am sure there are strong views within the local community. I look forward to those robust debates we will have as we work our way towards agreeing the right approach for our district."

Work is taking place behind the scenes to prepare the consultation and more information will follow in due course.

Published: 20 July 2021