Last updated 13:00, Saturday, 06 September 2008

A RADICAL shake-up is set to be made next week on how a major organisation is run.

Cumbria County Council has a budget of more than £300m and provides a range of public services such as libraries, care for the elderly and road maintenance.

Currently, the 84 councillors elected on to the council appoint a leader, deputy leader and six other councillors to form the cabinet, a committee which makes most of the council’s big decisions.

But the government says that system must be scrapped.

So, on Wednesday (September 10), the councillors will choose between two alternative ways of running the council.

First on the menu is the “strong leader” option, which is only slightly different to the current system.

The leader would be elected by the whole council for a four-year term.

The leader would then appoint between two and eight members to form a cabinet to take decisions.

The council could, however, sack the leader and appoint a replacement before the four years was up. Under the second option, a highly-powerful mayor would be elected by the 380,000 voters in Cumbria.

He or she would then appoint a cabinet. Once elected, the mayor could not be removed by the council or controlling group and would serve four years. Crucially, he or she would have more say over how the council spends taxpayers’ money because a two-thirds majority would be needed to overturn his/her proposals.

At the end of the mayor’s term of office, there would be a fresh election for the job.

But councillor Jack Richardson says in places like Cumbria, strategic decisions are split between different councils and that means no single person can speak with authority for the whole of the county.

The Conservative, who represents Hawcoat on the county council, said: “Everyone accepts that the current system of local government isn’t perfect. However, it’s infinitely better than the concept of a directly-elected mayor where there’s room for confusion because of the situation where you have two authorities responsible for different functions within the same area.

“In somewhere like London, the mayor of London (now Boris Johnson) is in a different situation completely. He’s dealing with all major strategic decisions.”

Labour councillor Alan Nicholson, who represents Parkside on the county council and chairs Barrow Local Committee, favours the “strong leader” option.

He says having a collective body of people working together is more democratic, provides a better overview of the needs of the county and communities and, unlike an elected mayor, is not just about one person making the decisions.

But the results of a consultation suggest an elected mayor is the public’s preferred option.

The county council reports that out of 295 votes cast by August 18, 149 were for a mayor and 146 were for a “strong leader”.

Wednesday’s meeting is due to take place in the county offices in Kendal and start at 10am.