For the future health of local democracy, we have to instigate a serious investigation into how we compensate those who serve as local councillors, especially those in senior positions. The recent White Paper on local government announced an independent review into the barriers and incentives to serving as councillors. And parallel to this, London Councils has published its own report by an expert panel on appropriate levels of member remuneration. This has reached the conclusion that the leader of a London borough has a level of responsibility equivalent to a backbench MP – and should be paid as such. All this is welcome, but we have to go the extra mile and provide local government partners and the wider public with the accountability to go with the remuneration. John Harrison, the mayor of North Tyneside, outlines detailed objectives for each cabinet member, and holds annual appraisals to assess outcomes. In terms of wider accountability, perhaps we should ask all cabinet members to have public sessions with scrutiny panels every year in public, with the ability to make recommendations about whether they justify their special responsibility allowances. I know that Parliament doesn't do for ministers, but we want to be better than national government. For all councillors, there should be a requirement to produce, at the minimum, an annual report to their ward electorate. And I anticipate a lively debate on these suggestions. One of the unintended benefits of providing higher allowances for members is that we may be able to create a pool of capable advocates for local democracy. Heaven knows we need it. Of all the hundreds of speakers at the Thames Gateway Conference, not a single one is an elected member. Even our best friends at Ipsos MORI don't feel the need to have a panel of senior councillors to match their panel of MPs and members of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. When communism collapsed in the 1980s, wise minds created the Westminster Foundation to provide advice and guidance on democracy. Perhaps, with the crumbling of centralism, we should be advocating a ‘Foundation for local democracy' to promote the benefits of elected local democracy, and encourage a new generation of energetic councillors.
