Lying in taters on the steps of the Civic Centre

My “favourite” web site is once again complaining about its Local Councilors and once again demonstrating its complete lack of understanding of the realities of Town Hall life. Under the Mayoral System the power is concentrated into the hands of the Mayor and his chosen Cabinet. The Constitution of Hartlepool Council mandates that the Mayor can create a minimum of two and a maximum of nine cabinet portfolios. All Executive power then rests with these posts, the ordinary back bench Councilor is left as a representative of his or her wards and with overview/scrutiny functions. Unfortunately for High-Tax-Hartlepool the “assumption that each councillor is also putting the same effort into the invisible part of the role - namely by regularly attending those meetings which play a large part in the general governance of the town” is completely false because the ordinary back bench councillor is expressly excluded by the Mayoral System from having any part in the general governance of the town.

If the assumption that they do is now lying in taters on the steps of the Civic Centre then its has not been destroyed by the failure of Councilors to attend meetings, it was destroyed when the people of Hartlepool placed the powers into the hands of a Mayor. Unfortunately, like most people In Hartlepool the authors of the High-Tax-Hartlepool website have no idea what the Mayoral System means. As I’ve said before, they really should do a bit more homework before they start pontificating about things, maybe then they could focus their attacks on what really maters, the destruction of representative democracy in Hartlepool and other towns where an elected mayor is now in control.