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It's Our City Campaign - Have you Signed?

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This is true, but unfortunately the majority of Sheffielders still rant about Thatcher and will only ever vote red

 

Lazy stereotype klaxon!!!

 

In the past ten years we've had three years of an LD controlled council and three years of a no overall control council.

 

Hardly the brainwashed red electorate you and others make out.

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I think what you are not accounting for is that most of the real debate happens behind closed doors before any committee meetings. That's where the decisions are actually made, amongst the ruling group.

 

At the committee meetings, councillors normally vote along party lines.

 

Sure, it appears more "democratic" because the public can attend and see the decision being made. Most committee meetings also allowed the public to speak if they had something to say on an issue. So, people can have their say and feel their views have been taken account of by decision makers.

 

But, in reality, the decision has probably already been made, so what you are generally getting is an illusion of inclusion.

 

A committee system takes more time and costs more money than the "Strong Leader" model currently employed. Councils are already criticised for taking too long and costing too much and budgets are constantly being squeezed, so you can see the attraction of a more streamlined decision making system.

 

The committee system doesn't cost much more than the strong leadership does , we have to be democratic and we have to do what is best for the people of Sheffield .

 

---------- Post added 30-08-2018 at 18:19 ----------

 

84 Councillors, 10 in the Cabinet.

 

7 wards out of 28 have a Cabinet member

 

The Cabinet (12% of Councillors) make all key day to day decisions for ALL of Sheffield.

 

SCC CABINET MEMBERS, PORTFOLIOS AND WARDS:

 

Councillor Julie Dore – Chair and Leader of the Council

PARK AND ARBOURTHORNE

 

Councillor Olivia Blake – Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance WALKLEY

 

Councillor Mazher Iqbal – Cabinet Member for Business and Investment

DARNALL

 

•Councillor Jackie Drayton – Cabinet Member for Children and Families BURNGREAVE

 

Councillor Mary Lea – Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Leisure

DARNALL

 

•Councillor Jayne Dunn – Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

SOUTHEY

 

•Councillor Lewis Dagnall – Cabinet Member for Environment and Streetscene

GLEADLESS VALLEY

 

•Councillor Chris Peace – Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care

GLEADLESS VALLEY

 

•Councillor Jim Steinke – Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety

NETHER EDGE AND SHARROW

 

•Councillor Jack Scott – Cabinet Member for Transport and Development

PARK AND ARBOURTHORNE

 

This is who represents us in sheffield .

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If you are a Sheffield voter and think it's not fair that only 10 out of our 84 councillors have been chosen to have the power to make nearly all decisions, please sign this petition https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sheffield-peoples-petition
It only needs 1500 more sigs to force the council into action!

61176728_591107038045018_178584976820378

Edited by jbagley
Re-added image cos it went wrong

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What a strange suggestion. Should we also sign a petition calling on Parliament to make Theresa May’s cabinet more representative as at the moment it is made up largely of white, male conservatives who represent wealthy constituents in London and the South East?

 

Also claiming that about 10% of councillors make 100% of decisions is misleading. A quick look at the above map shows that those cabinet members tend to be from areas of much higher populations in the centre of Sheffield so may actually represent much more than 10% of Sheffield citizens.

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The petition has legal power to start the process of making Sheffield Council more democratic (the national government gave the citizens of Sheffield this power). The Blair gov forced all councils to change to this undemocratic system but in 2011 that gov gave  citizens of sheffield legal power to petition for change.

 

Each electoral area in Sheffield has approximately the same number of voters, that's why the ones nearer the city centre are smaller. If you look at the results of the last local election, you'll see that also those areas tend to be the areas with the lowest turnout (e.g. 23.9% i n Park and Arbothorne). So, in actual fact, those 10 councillors probably elected by LESS people than other councillors!

 

The Labour party only got about 31% of the vote, but have 100% of the power. A similar thing happened when the LibDems ran the city a while back - they only got around 35% of the vote but 100% of the power! It's not against any particular party - it's about making sure that the councillors that are elected actually have the power most people think they have!

 

Edited by jbagley
Fixed error

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only 1500 needed? wheres the other 11,000 votes then as your online poll only has 7.5K  (and some of those are not correctly filled in so are voided) and you need 20,000 individual and verified Sheffield Resident signatures in order for the council to be forced to do a vote (love to know how you would structure it) . Bearing in mind that you have been running this online poll  for nearly a year i don't think the appetite is there

 

Good luck though

Edited by sheffbag

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The petition is being run online and on paper. The total so far is 18,500.

1,500 to go.

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you have 11,000 individual and verified paper signatures that are not replicated on your online vote at all? 

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It seems that over 80% of the people they talk to on the streets (all over Sheffield) immediate;y sign the petition.

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really? then why does it not state that you have 11,000 already? 

Bear in mind there is no proof that whoever signed is a verified Sheffield resident nor that they have not double voted on the website

 

Again - good luck to you in your quest but how would you replace it? every councillor gets a vote on everything? Good luck with that

 

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1 hour ago, jbagley said:

it's about making sure that the councillors that are elected actually have the power most people think they have!


 

That won't really happen though will it?

 

Having seen the Council operate under the current "strong leader" model and previous committee models, I can tell you that the end result is pretty much the same.

 

The proposed committee model gives more time for "debate" and councillors and the public might get more opportunity to make their points. However, the party in power will still make the decisions behind closed doors in their own group meetings and will mandate the councillors on each committee to vote in the desired way. You might get the odd occasion where the ruling party isn't bothered either way on a decision and lets councillors have a free vote, or you might get the odd upset when councillors don't turn up for a meeting and a vote is lost.  But, most councillors vote the way their leaders tell them to on most occasions, so generally the result is the same.

 

The committee model does have a more "democratic" feel to it because the councillors and public can come to the meetings and potentially speak on matters they want to make a point on. They can also see how their councillors on the committee vote. But, this all takes time and costs money (because of the amount of officer time spent in servicing and attending committee meetings).  In my experience, it can take longer to get decisions that way, so initiatives and projects that the public might want can take longer to deliver.

16 minutes ago, jbagley said:

It seems that over 80% of the people they talk to on the streets (all over Sheffield) immediate;y sign the petition.

There are a lot of people who will sign pretty much any petition you thrust under their noses. Do the people collecting signatures provide a full and comprehensive explanation of the current and proposed systems and the pros and cons of each? 

Edited by Planner1

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The current system would be replaced by a "modernised committee system", where instead of decisions about an area of council service being taken by just 1 councillor in the cabinet, the decisions would be made by a committee of councillors (in other places that use this new system there are about 8 councillors on each committee). Doesn't cost more than current system but is more democratic and all councillors can give input (say if their area would bea ffected by the decision).

 

This change has been done in about 30 other places already. Most recent is Scarborough, where new Labour council leader announced it (without needing a petition) recently

https://scarborough.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/419952/start_time/131000

 

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