A "Beeching Report" for the Malmesbury Borough Council has been put forward by Councillor Colin Forward, one of the two Labour members of the Council. He sets this report out in the form of an Open Letter to the Mayor-elect, Councillor Robert Lush, and says, "I consider that the re-organisation of the Malmesbury Borough Council is not merely desireable but something without which we shall continue to stagnate."
His Open Letter reads:
"Mr. Mayor-elect, - First let me say how glad I am that you have been elected Mayor. You became steadily more and more positive and outspoken in debate and it is my opinion that a man who knows his own mind will make a good chairman. What is more important, he will make a good leader.
"Before I list some of the improvements which I hope you will put under way, I would like to say thank you to the outgoing Mayor Councillor F. Taylor. He has been a responsible, if indulgent, chairman and has made two very important contributions to the life of Malmesbury. He has launched the Road Safety Committee and the Freedom From Hunger Campaign. In addition he has at present at innumarable social functions, as a good Mayor should, and has provided that touch of humanity and understanding so neccesary on those committees that deal with the human side of local government.
"The many improvements required in the Borough all have one thing in common: they can be accelerated by an energetic Mayor who is prepared to lead his Council as a team rather than act as a neutral referee.
"It would be a lunatic organisation which employed sixteen men to do one job, and yet the Malmesbury Council does precisely this. A glance at the committee chart will show that most councillors are on most committees: some committees have as many as fourteen members, so that deep examination of problems is impossible. When all councillors have made their contribution to the debate the evening is wearing on. Smaller committees may not take any less time, but each member is able more deeply to explore the problem. Ideally, each member should have thought out his point of view beforehand, but as some councillors may know something that others do not, discussion can be useful. Perfunctory discussion is not good enough; every problem must be thrashed out as completely as posible. Where nearly every councillor is on nearly every committee, exhaustive discussion will produce exhausted councillors and the kind of bad legislation exemplified by the new bust stop arrangements.
Portfolio System
"The way to avoid over-working your Council is to introduce the portfolio system. We need about twelve committees; this means twelve portfolios. Even Lord Hailham doesn't hold more than five, whereas the present Mayor is involved in eleven committees.
The new Mayor must not meekly accept whatever committees the Selection Committee provide. First he must press for the appointment as chairman of men he regards as being capable of leading their respective committees; he need not himself be chairman of any committee other than the whole Council.
"He should limit his committees to four councillors and recommend, where he thinks it advisable, that the committees ahould co-opt suitable people who are not councillors but who are capable of making a useful specialist contribution. This would meet Councillor Morse's explanation of the present large committees which he ascribes to his belief that you cannot have too much brain on a committee.
"There is no reason why co-opted members should not vote, as the decisions of these committees will in any event be subject to approval by the Council. Providing the committee chairman state their cases thoroughly before the council, full council meetings need not become tedious rehearsals of debates already completed in committee. In this way we can co-opt and at the same time preserve the democratic process.
"Matters which should be discussed in secret, such as staff salaries, allocation of houses, etc,. could in committee at the stage at which it hears the Sub-Committee's proposals, and in public when the Council's decision is announced.
"The Local Government process may, therefore, be arranged as folows:
"The Council. with strong direction from the Mayor, appoints its committee chairmen. These chairmen recruit their committees in proportion of four councillors and two co-opted lay members. The chairman of each committee of seven then reports to the Council which hears a complete resume of the argument, which it confirms or refers back. In the event that a councillor who is not a member of the committee wishes to represent special interests or to make a personal contribution to the debate, he can attend the meeting of the committee to state his case, deffering his vote for the full Council meeting.
Much more to be done
"So much needs to be done in Malmesbury that it will be necessary for the Mayor to plan his year's work to ensure that all his committees complete their 'stint.' It is the volume of work which most demands the reduction of the size of committees and the recruitment of lay assistance, in order to divide the work amongst the greatest possible number of people.
Theoretically the work of the Council could be done without any councillor serving on more than three committees. This would ensure that each councillor gained experience of chairmanship, and would also ensure that each councillor enjoyed a change of tasks every year. This is surely better than the present system, which involves the Mayor in eleven committees, Councillor Morse, Iles and Avis in nine and so on down to the fortunate five, Messrs. Nelson, Forward, Moon, Mrs. Avis and Mrs. Freeman-Thomas, who each serve on only three committees.
"Detailed proposals would make this letter too long. However, the following is a list of urgent matters the Mayor will have to deal with:
"I am sure, sir, you can think of many more urgent items. May I express the hope that as our new Mayor, Mr. Lush, you will introduce those measures of reorganisation without which the Council will continue to be incapable of doing its job.
