Group to set up new model of governance for Bristol

A working group setting up Bristol’s new committee-run council will ask for views from the public this autumn about how the new model should work.

The cross-party group of councillors met last week for the first time to begin thrashing out details of how Bristol City Council should be run from 2024.

In May earlier this year the city voted in a referendum to scrap the current mayor-based system, in favour of committees.

But it’s still unclear how the new committee-based system will work. The group tasked with figuring that out, called the ‘committees committee’, has 12 councillors from different parties and will be led by Helen Holland, Labour’s cabinet member for adult social care.

Speaking at a council meeting on July 5, the councillor for Hartcliffe & Withywood said: “I’ve been elected chair of the committee on the committee system. It’s proportionally balanced across the council, and we had our first initial meeting last week. The issue about how we engage with citizens in the work that we’re doing was very high on the agenda.”

Also on the working group are Labour councillors Nicola Beech, Steve Pearce and Marley Bennett; Green councillors Jenny Bartle, Lorraine Francis, Guy Poultney and Mohamed Makawi; Conservative councillors Geoff Gollop and Richard Eddy; Liberal Democrat councillor Tim Kent; and Knowle Community Party councillor Gary Hopkins.

Labour councillor and cabinet member Helen Holland will lead the new cross-party group

It’s not yet known whether the working group will meet in public or behind closed doors.

Bristol City Council has been run by a directly elected mayor since 2012, and will be for two more years until the current mayor, Marvin Rees, finishes his second term.

One area the working group will likely explore is Sheffield, a similar city to Bristol which also recently voted in a referendum to move to a committee-run council. Sheffield’s referendum was held last year, and the new system has been in place since this May.

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Read more: What a committee system might mean for Bristol 

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Four transitional committees were set up to decide the details of the new model, and a dedicated page was introduced on the council’s website to communicate the changes to the public.

The council also held frequent public sessions to gather views on how the new model should work, as well as a two-day enquiry hearing from experts and other local councils.

A cross-party group campaigned to scrap the mayoral system in the run up to May’s referendum – photo Betty Woolerton

Holland added: “We’re going to be meeting very regularly and we’ve had loads of meetings put into our diaries. That topic, about how we engage with people and how we bring the city in to discuss how this will go forward, is right up there on our agenda.

“There will be regular updates from the committees committee. Probably by the autumn there will be open sessions where we will be looking for views from the city. We do want regular updates going out from the council about what we’re doing.”

Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol 

Main photo: Betty Woolerton

Read more: ‘We should grasp the opportunity for a citywide debate to revitalise local democracy’ 

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