Ward Boundary Review of Bristol City Council Stage 1 – Council Size Submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England 10 June 2014 V1-2 version as approved at the Annual meeting of Full Council on 10th June Contents Table of Contents Page Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Bristol in Context 6 Part 1 – Governance and decision making 9 Part 2 – Scrutiny functions 20 Part 3 – Representational role of councillors 23 Part 4 – The future 29 Appendix 1: New Councillor Induction and Refresher Programme 2013 32 Appendix 2: Scrutiny Membership 2013/14 35 Appendix 3: Four year scrutiny activity analysis 36 Appendix 4: Council Meetings and Elected Member Involvement 2013/14 41 Appendix 5: Council Committee meetings since 2006/7 43 2 1. Executive Summary Having considered the future arrangements for Council Size, the Council are recommending that 70 councillors would provide efficient and effective representation to the public. In developing this submission the Council took as its starting point the existing number of members and then considered whether the evidence supported a variation of that figure. In arriving at the conclusion that the status quo should prevail a number of factors have been considered. These include potential changes in governance, developments in local and national policy, developments in communications and public expectations of councillors, and evidence provided by members concerning their commitments in discharging their governance and representative roles. It is felt that Bristol has an appropriate number of elected members for the roles they are expected to fulfil. Some 41 councillors currently participate in the four Development Control Committees, 15 on the Licencing Committee and 8 each on the Public Rights of Way and Greens Committee and the Public Safety and Protection Committee. Licensing alone can involve 35-45 hearings each municipal year, as elected members need to respond to circumstances which are often beyond the control of the Council. Over the past year numerous additional meetings have had to be convened and sub committees have had to meet three times a week on occasion and frequently the committees meet for a full day. A number of constitutional changes are being considered at the Annual council meeting on June 10th which may result in a reduced number of scrutiny meetings, 2 fewer development control committees and reduced number of formal outside body roles. If agreed, these changes will result in a modest reduction in the number of committees but they will be more significant in helping to align decision making processes with a new council management structure. Bristol councillors have a high profile in their local communities with many calls on their time - Neighbourhood Partnership and Neighbourhood Forum; school governors; own casework, as well as joint casework with the MP; various residents' associations, local organisations, village hall, church groups and local traders' associations. Those elected members who have engaged in the neighbourhood planning process have also found the process very demanding on their time. Feedback given by elected members to their respective Party Whips indicates that, for many, the time required in order to fulfil their obligations as a city councillor is much more than they originally anticipated. A survey conducted in August 2013 assessing the amount of time councillors spend in their roles found that, on average, the overall time spent is 164 hours per month or 38 hours a week excluding specific responsibilities. Clearly, there is no such thing as the “average councillor” but the survey indicates that for many councillors the extent of their commitment is comparable to a full time job. The Council believes that in the interests of diversity, the role should be capable of being undertaken by those in work, and the concern is that by reducing the number of councillors it will become more difficult to attract such candidates. Councillors have also noted that the growth in technology, social media and other forms of electronic communications in recent years have, as well as diversifying the methods of communication with constituents also increased the demands on and expectations of councillors in dealing with case work. 3 Chapter 4 of this submission sets out the Council’s assessment of the implications of the changing policy and legislative environment in which it works. The impact of the localism agenda on the constituency work of councillors is already apparent in some areas as a result of development such as neighbourhood planning areas, and more locally the Council has itself committed to neighbourhood partnerships as a method of bringing local people and councillors together to address local issues. A number of members have also reported increasing constituency work and increasing complexity in that work as a result of the welfare reforms. In light of the factors considered, the submission argues for no reduction in existing councillor numbers. It is felt that Bristol has an appropriate number of councillors for the roles they currently fulfil and/or those roles they may be asked to fulfil in the future. Bristol is a growing city which, over the last decade, has witnessed a period of unprecedented population increase. The current number of Bristol councillors compares favourably with other similar sized cities. Liverpool, for example, had some 322,631 registered electors as at November 2013 (compared to Bristol’s 323,711 registered electors) yet has 90 councillors. Manchester, with 372,688 electors in November 2013 has 96 councillors. For a city of the size of Bristol and taking into account both present and future roles for elected members, it is suggested that 70 councillors is an appropriate number. 4 2. Introduction The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has confirmed that Bristol City Council is in their ward boundary review programme for 2014/15. The first stage of the review is to decide how many Councillors, in total, should make up the Council in future. In considering Council Size the LGBCE considers the following four parts: 1. Governance and decision making – what is the right number of councillors to take decisions and manage the business in an effective way? 2. Scrutiny functions – what is the right number of councillors to administer Bristol’s scrutiny responsibilities in a convenient and effective way? 3. Representational role of councillors – what is the right number of councillors to represent and provide leadership to local communities in Bristol? 4. The future – what governance changes are being considered and how do these impact on the number of councillors needed in the future? This document represents the Council’s submission on Council Size after consideration of these four factors. 5 3. Bristol in Context Bristol is the seventh largest city in England outside of London and one of the eight ‘Core Cities’ with an estimated population of 432,500 usual residents. Following a period of population decline in the post war years, the population stabilised in the 1990s and increased substantially during the 2000s. Over the last decade there has been a period of unprecedented population growth. Since 2001 the population of the Bristol Local Authority area is estimated to have increased by 42,400 people (10.9%), this compares to an England and Wales increase of 8.0% over the same period. If recent trends continue, Bristol’s population is projected to increase by an additional 44,800 people (10.5%) in the 10 years between 2011 and 2021. Over the last decade, the population of Bristol has become increasingly diverse and some local communities have changed significantly. The proportion of the population who are not ‘White British’ has increased from 12% to 22% of the total population. There are now at least 45 religions, at least 50 countries of birth represented and at least 91 main languages spoken by people living in Bristol. The largest increases by ethnic group since 2001 have been in Other White, Black African, Other Black and Multiple/mixed ethnic groups. These changes reflect the large growth in the Somali and the Polish populations in Bristol, as well as an increase in international students and the increasingly mixed child population. Overall the Black and Minority Ethnic group (BME) population has increased from 8.2% in 2001 to 16% in 2011. The proportion of people living in Bristol who were not born in the UK has increased from 8% of all people in 2001 to 15% of all people in 2011. Of all the people not born in the UK, 61% of them have arrived in the UK in the last decade (between 2001 and 2011). Although all parts of the city have experienced changes in population since 2001, in terms of changes to population characteristics these have been particularly concentrated in the inner city and inner east areas of the city. There are more children aged 0-15 living in Bristol than people aged 65 and over. The growth in child population (particularly under 5s, which grew by 34% in the last decade) is one of the highest in the country and has significant implications for services within the health, care and education system, including new school place provision. Bristol’s 57,200 older people (aged 65 and over) make up 13% of the total population. The proportion of older people is lower than in England and Wales as a whole with 17% in the same age group. There are more than 9,000 people living in Bristol aged 85 and over and the population continues to age gradually. Bristol’s prosperity is not shared by all its citizens: many areas experience multiple deprivation. Bristol has distinct geographical concentrations of deprivation and affluence (which in some areas sit side by side). There are clear and persistent health and wellbeing inequalities across the city, including a persistent inequality in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas (with an estimated gap of up to 10 years for men and 6 years for women).