Building Inclusive Governance

Background and context 

In 2022, West Lancashire Council resolved to adopt the committee system form of governance. This was following a member-led review of options which was supported by the Local Government Association and the law firm Weightmans.  

While the resolution, and work following its agreement, specified a lot of the technical details of how the new committee system was expected to operate, officers and member thought it was necessary to conduct a series of familiarisation sessions with councillors, to explore the likely new arrangements in detail and to address any detailed points of design and implementation.  

In order to meet the familiarisation and development needs of officers more generally, CfGS repackaged the material from the ‘live’ member sessions into a series of shorter recordings that could be shared and viewed by officers on the council’s intranet.  

Challenges 

A number of members were concerned about the costs of transition from one governance model to another – as well as the details of how the new systems would work in practice. CfGS worked with members and officers to put forward information, and provide a forum for discussion, across a range of topics that were stripped across six separate but complementary workshops, delivered remotely, and open to all members.  

With the Council resolution having been agreed by a fairly tight margin, it was important to ensure that all members felt as included as possible in the design and operation of the new system.

Opportunities 

CfGS has significant, deep expertise in providing support to councils both as they consider their governance options, and as new arrangements are designed and implemented. CfGS brings with this expertise an explicit neutrality around the benefits, or ‘pros and cons,’ of any one model over another. Our message, that overall most structures can be made to work, and that the strength of a governance system is primarily about relationships, and the attitudes, behaviours and values of the key members and officers involved, helps to cut through situations where concern and uncertainty mainly focus on unfamiliar structures.  

Delivering these sessions provided an opportunity to develop amongst members a shared understanding of the issues involved, to gain a realistic appraisal of how the new system was expected to operate and to highlight amongst members and officers any lingering concerns that could be dealt with towards the end of the design process, and as that design came to be implemented. 

Outcomes and impacts 

West Lancashire made a smooth transition from the leader/cabinet system to the committee system in May 2024. Our work highlighted to members two important points – the need to experiment with new arrangements in the first year of operation of a new system, and the likelihood that in the first few months, some things would not work perfectly and would need to be changed and refined.

This has given the council a solid basis on which to explore and evaluation frankly and candidly the success and effectiveness of new arrangements as they are bedded in.