what madness is this electing a third of the council at a time?

[fentiman]

Does anyone have any knowledge / insight into why councils have elections for only a third of the council each year rather than the full council every four years?

We moved to the South coast two years or so ago from Lambeth and I'm finding it hard to get my head around the fact that our local council has elections three out of four years - electing 1 member for a 4 year term rather than 3 members every 4 years as councils in London and other parts of the UK do.

It seems to be very disruptive as the councillors surely have their eye on the next election and so no proper 'hard' decisions can be made and implemented as they fear being defeated in a matter of months. It also means that the council is very unstable as it could change hands on a regular basis as Lib Dems and Cons have roughly similar numbers of seats so control of the council depends on whether they make one or two gains or what deal they do with Labour which doesnt make for great accountability.

Presumably the local authority has specifically opted for this system rather than having it imposed. Is it meant to make it more democratic? To me it just seems to neuter the already limited powers of the council as proper long term decisions cant be made? Do people enjoy having elections basically every year?

 

[cupid_stunt]

It totally confused me when I moved here, seems crazy, and does my head in, that we have elections every year, 3 out of 4 for Worthing Borough Council, and the 4th year is West Sussex Council County, no idea why, looking forward to replies to this thread.

 

[platinumsage]

Normally it's when there are multiple councilors per ward. So you get to elect one councilor each year, rather than having e.g. 16 people from 4 parties on the ballot paper and you getting four votes, which leads to confusion and less chance for individual candidates to differentiate themselves through permitted mailshots etc, and more voting along party lines with fewer independents.

 

[Wilf]

Does anyone have any knowledge / insight into why councils have elections for only a third of the council each year rather than the full council every four years?

We moved to the South coast two years or so ago from Lambeth and I'm finding it hard to get my head around the fact that our local council has elections three out of four years - electing 1 member for a 4 year term rather than 3 members every 4 years as councils in London and other parts of the UK do.

It seems to be very disruptive as the councillors surely have their eye on the next election and so no proper 'hard' decisions can be made and implemented as they fear being defeated in a matter of months. It also means that the council is very unstable as it could change hands on a regular basis as Lib Dems and Cons have roughly similar numbers of seats so control of the council depends on whether they make one or two gains or what deal they do with Labour which doesnt make for great accountability.

Presumably the local authority has specifically opted for this system rather than having it imposed. Is it meant to make it more democratic? To me it just seems to neuter the already limited powers of the council as proper long term decisions cant be made? Do people enjoy having elections basically every year?

That. I used to live in Rochdale which opted for the 1/3 system when the council was set up in 1974 I think. 1/3 every year for 3 years and the 4th was the county council election. Since then they abolished the county council, so it's election/election/election/blessed peace.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Normally it's when there are multiple councilors per ward. So you get to elect a one councillor each year, rather than having e.g. 16 people from 4 parties on the ballot paper and getting four votes, which leads to confusion and less chance for individual candidates to differentiate themselves through permitted mailshots etc, and more voting along party lines with fewer independents.

I suppose that makes some sense.

 

[fentiman]

Being bored at work I did a little googling on this

I found the following published by the Harrogate Council (https://www.harrogate.gov.uk/downloads/file/530/changing-to-whole-council-elections) when they considered the issue:

Advantages of the thirds model

• Ensured a regular return of new Members
• Allowed judgement of a Council annually rather than every four years, providing more immediate political accountability
• Encourages people to develop a regular habit of voting
• Enables elections staff to retain a practical up to date knowledge of running district elections

Advantages of the elections every four years model

• Certainty when a Council has a four year mandate, allowing a strategic approach to policy and decision making to be adopted
• Avoids uncertainty during election campaigning and ‘purdah'

also

• Reduced costs
• Improved democratic accountability
• Increased voter turnout