Should the number of Southend Councillors be cut?

Today's Echo newspaper is reporting that the Leader of Southend Council is suggesting that savings of £250,000 can be made by reducing the number of councillors to just 2 per ward.

I have sent the following letter to the Echo in response:

In my view Cllr Ron Woodley is offering a superficial way for Southend Borough Council to save money by proposing a reduction in the number of elected councillors.

He seems to have overlooked that following the formation of the Unitary Authority, additional Councillors were required to deal with the functions and responsibilities devolved from Essex County Council.

The suggestion that each Ward within the Borough would have only two councillors would raise serious questions about the workload they would be required to undertake. There is the strong likelihood that those councillors would then need to be full-time and salaried. I doubt that that people of Southend are willing to accept employed councillors. Would the payment of salaries lead to budgetary savings?

A move to just two councillors, raises issues with the period of office served and the frequency of elections. A few years ago, the Conservatives were unable to form a consensus for a move to 4-yearly “all up” elections. The result of Cllrs Woodley’s proposals, based on a councillor serving a 4 year period of office would lead to 2 years in which elections are held, followed by 2 years with no elections. I believe any reduction in the frequency of elections diminishes the democratic accountability of the Council to voters in Southend.

I believe there may be a case for a small reduction in the number of Wards within the Borough and a subsequent reduction in the number of councillors. However, the redrawing of Ward boundaries will be an expensive process that offers no short-term savings.

The reality is that democracy has a price tag and that accountability of elected Councillors

cannot be sacrificed in exchange for short-term budget cuts.