‘Every party must engage with the decision-making process’

This article by Green Councillor and Deputy Leader of Bristol City Council Heather Mack was originally published on Bristol 24/7 on October 25th 2024. 

Every party must engage with the decision-making process for Bristol’s new governance system to make the best decisions.

In 2022 Bristol voted to get rid of a mayor in favour of a committee-led council, which came into effect in May.

Under this model difficult decisions are made by councillors on policy committees, and the best decisions for Bristol should be developed through deliberation, compromise and collaboration between all political parties.

Councillors are expected to specialise on their policy areas, with most sitting on just one policy committee which have around six to eight public meetings a year. For each meeting, they are expected to engage with the development of reports and options to be voted on.

On significant, difficult and controversial issues, such as recent decisions on parking charges or burial expansion, diligent councillors will have numerous briefings with officers and committee chairs prior to the public committee meeting, to understand the issue and make sure the right options are on the table.

Councillors, focused on representing the whole city, should reach out and speak to multiple stakeholders before making a decision which will often have a range of impacts on different communities.

Our new system is set up to encourage deliberation in committee meetings that are open to the public. The Green Party has long stated that “no single party has a monopoly on good ideas”, so we are pleased to work with all members on the council who are open to working collaboratively. I may not agree with the politics of some of my colleagues, but I acknowledge that they represent their local communities, and they often have a useful and different perspective to add when considering decisions.

As elected representatives, we need to make decisions that are good for the whole city and last beyond any single politician’s term. We need strong decisions. Strong decisions come about when more voices are involved, obvious issues are spotted, missing stakeholders are identified and more knowledge is brought to the table. In countries with coalition governments, where decisions are made by more than one political party, those decisions last longer, as they don’t flip-flop after every election.

The council faces many serious challenges, including increasing need for our services, especially around social care and placements for vulnerable children, means that without a significant increase in funding from the Government we face more and more difficult budget decisions each year.

Many of the particularly difficult and unpopular decisions currently being considered by the council now were ducked and kicked into the long grass by the previous Labour administration but were set in their final budget, which was supported by the Conservatives, which runs until April 2025.

Many of these difficult decisions were delayed until after the May election, in some cases costing money and making the options more difficult, but I believe that the new committee system is facing them head on and making the best decisions for Bristol. This includes the compromise solutions found for burial expansion and increasing allotment rents to maintain the service for allotments and protect money for parks.

These complex and difficult challenges can be faced together, with all councillors engaging with their communities, council officers and other councillors.

Collaborative working is of course tricky at times, all members will need to consider their biases and their assumptions and listen to others with an open mind. But trust is crucial. Political parties will need to allow their members to do their research, to go into committee meetings and consider the views of others and make their mind up based on what is right, not what fits the headline that’s already been written.

This is an opinion piece by Heather Mack, a Green Party councillor for Lockleaze and the deputy leader of Bristol City Council