main content Council constitution - consultation and decision

At the moment the Council makes its decisions using what is commonly called an “old-style” leader and cabinet system; this means that the leader is appointed by Council each year. The Council cannot continue with its current arrangements; under The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, the Council had to make a choice, before the end of 2009, between two different approaches for the future:

• directly elected mayor and cabinet, or
• “new” leader and cabinet

Following public consultation and formal advertisement, the Council held a special meeting on Tuesday 15 December 2009 and made a formal decision to adopt the “new” leader and cabinet system.

The new leader and cabinet arrangements are sometimes known as a ‘strong leader’ model. With this model -

• The Council appoints a leader for a four year term from amongst the sixty elected councillors, although there is a provision for the full Council to remove the leader during that time. (A leader can of course choose to resign at any time as he or she could not be compelled to hold office against their will.)
• The leader appoints the cabinet (or executive), and decides portfolio-holder arrangements and responsibilities and any delegation of executive functions. (Bromley currently requires those arrangements to be made by full Council, so the new model constitutes a real change). 
• The leader is still elected to represent their ward, and so would need to balance this with their wider leadership role.

The leader will personally control all decisions about the Council’s executive functions. They can then choose whether to make all decisions personally, or to make arrangements for others to do so (for example, the cabinet, an individual member of the cabinet, or certain senior officers).

The leader must appoint a deputy who will hold office until the end of the leader’s term (although the deputy can be removed and replaced mid-term by the leader). This deputy would take up the role of the leader if the leader is unable to act or the office becomes vacant.

Members of the cabinet must be elected councillors (as now), but the council leader can choose just how big the cabinet would be (between two and nine). As members of the cabinet would no longer need to be elected annually they could be appointed or dismissed at any time in “cabinet reshuffles” in response to need or events.

The decision to adopt the new leader and cabinet model will be formally advertised in the local press with the relevant details. Implementation of the changes must take place on the third day following the next council elections (these take place on Thursday 6 May 2010).