A proposed delay to placing local decision-making at the heart of the way Bristol City Council runs after the mayoral system is scrapped next year has sparked “alarm”. Lib Dem Cllr Andrew Brown told a council meeting it would be a “tragedy” if communities and ward councillors were excluded from having their say on important matters affecting their areas.
And Knowle Community Cllr Gary Hopkins said that failing to devolve any decisions to local neighbourhoods would mean the authority had “missed a lot of the message the public gave us” when they voted in a referendum 12 months ago to abolish a directly elected mayor. The concerns were raised as full council unanimously approved the recommendations of the cross-party committee model working group, which has spent months thrashing out how the new set-up will work.
Members backed the idea of eight new policy-making committees, each chaired by a councillor with responsibility for their subject such as housing, transport and environment, as well as a council leader and deputy leader that will replace the current mayor and cabinet from May 2024. But Hengrove & Whitchurch Park ward Cllr Brown said he had some reservations following calls at the most recent working group meeting, to postpone decentralising power from City Hall to local areas until 2025 to ensure the new ways of working were properly up and running.
