Agenda item

Report of Chief Executive attached.

Amendment by Labour Group NOT CARRIED by 42 votes to 5; amendment by Conservative Group CARRIED by 39 votes to 4.

A report of the Governance Committee gave details of the proposed submission by the Council to a review of the local government electoral arrangements in the London Borough of Havering. This detailed the borough’s governance arrangements, scrutiny functions and the representational role of Councillors. The Council’s submission recommended that the Council size remained at 54 Members.

Amendment on behalf of the Labour Group

That the report be amended as follows:

Council takes the view that in view of the population increases taking place and projected to 2025 and beyond the number of Councillors should increase from 54 to 60.

The summary of the report and its conclusions should be amended to delete references to “sufficient capacity and resilience in the existing cohort number”. In addition references to “limiting the financial burden on taxpayers” should also be deleted as the burden on individual residents will not increase as population increase should lead to additional Council Tax receipts i.e. each individual household should remain the same in terms the burden of tax payable.

In addition to the deletions above reference in report to the BCR should be made to the increase in workload for Members leading to additional Case Work in the wards with areas of deprivation and high levels of social housing. The housing developments in the areas such as South Hornchurch are likely to give rise to a significant rise in Member enquires.

Finally there is an inaccuracy in part  2.17 (JV Working Party). The Working Party was set up after the Local Election in 2018, it has only met on 1 occasion i.e. not “approximately two month intervals” The report be amended to read “that it is proposed to meet at two months intervals”

Amendment on behalf of the Conservative Group

The following amendments to be added under section 2.1 – the Havering Vision:

The digital council

Since the last review in 2002, there have been major advancements in ‘digital tools and solutions (which) enable councils to improve service design and delivery, to better meet the needs of their residents and improve productivity’ (LGA, 2017).

The Local Government Association’s (ibid.) article entitled, ‘Digital’, highlights that ‘as councils face the twin challenges of decreasing funding and increasing demand, they have to find new ways of using technology to deliver services more effectively and enable their staff and members to work in new ways, increasing productivity and reducing costs’.

In a digital world, more residents are choosing to interact with the Council online rather than face to face, and the authority is ever-evolving and -changing, to interact and advise residents through their preferred method of communication.

Locally, the use of technology has proved to be an enabler for a more immediate interaction with council services, staff and members. For example, the Council’s website allows transactions to be fulfilled faster and more effectively. This will continue to improve into the future, with the greater use of wider technology such as the Love Havering app and replacement of the complaints and members enquiry system.

The digital councillor

Email access and social media have contributed greatly to the birth of the digital council and the digital councillor, which has significantly changed the way in which residents interact with their elected representatives:

            ‘It wasn’t that long ago that email was a novel way to contact your councillor. Already many councillors are interacting with the people they represent online through social media, and it won’t be long before this is common expectation, too’ (IDeA, 2010)

Due to the ability of residents to contact their councillors in near-immediate time, members are only too aware of the issues facing their local communities. The ability of a member to raise and resolve these issues quickly and effectively is vital, and, in a digital world, that is certainly the expectation of residents.

The use of technology will, undoubtedly, play in important part in the council’s journey to make Havering a Cleaner, Safer, Prouder place to live. This will enable councillors to deal with a larger volume of case-work, keep in regular contact with their constituents, as well as facilitating and supporting residents in their journey to self-service.

Following debate, the amendment on behalf of the Labour Group was NOT CARRIED by 42 votes to 5 (see division 1) and the amendment on behalf of the Conservative Group was CARRIED by 39 votes to 4 (see division 2).

RESOLVED:

The following amendments to be added under section 2.1 – the Havering Vision:

The digital council

Since the last review in 2002, there have been major advancements in ‘digital tools and solutions (which) enable councils to improve service design and delivery, to better meet the needs of their residents and improve productivity’ (LGA, 2017).

The Local Government Association’s (ibid.) article entitled, ‘Digital’, highlights that ‘as councils face the twin challenges of decreasing funding and increasing demand, they have to find new ways of using technology to deliver services more effectively and enable their staff and members to work in new ways, increasing productivity and reducing costs’.

In a digital world, more residents are choosing to interact with the Council online rather than face to face, and the authority is ever-evolving and -changing, to interact and advise residents through their preferred method of communication.

Locally, the use of technology has proved to be an enabler for a more immediate interaction with council services, staff and members. For example, the Council’s website allows transactions to be fulfilled faster and more effectively. This will continue to improve into the future, with the greater use of wider technology such as the Love Havering app and replacement of the complaints and members enquiry system.

The digital councillor

Email access and social media have contributed greatly to the birth of the digital council and the digital councillor, which has significantly changed the way in which residents interact with their elected representatives:

            ‘It wasn’t that long ago that email was a novel way to contact your councillor. Already many councillors are interacting with the people they represent online through social media, and it won’t be long before this is common expectation, too’ (IDeA, 2010)

Due to the ability of residents to contact their councillors in near-immediate time, members are only too aware of the issues facing their local communities. The ability of a member to raise and resolve these issues quickly and effectively is vital, and, in a digital world, that is certainly the expectation of residents.

The use of technology will, undoubtedly, play in important part in the council’s journey to make  Havering a Cleaner, Safer, Prouder place to live. This will enable councillors to deal with a larger volume of case-work, keep in regular contact with their constituents, as well as facilitating and supporting residents in their journey to self-service.