Radical changes in the way local councils are run and elected are at the heart of changes being brought in by the Labour Government. City Hall Reporter Olwen Vasey reports.

Old-style committee meetings will soon be a thing of the past in City Hall as the Council makes radical changes to a system which has been in place since Victorian times.

Members will no longer be judged on the meetings they attend - but the work they do in their wards.

And the Council will consider whether the district should have its first "people's Lord Mayor" - electing a first citizen who may not even be a councillor

Informal talks have already begun in City Hall about John Prescott's revolutionary plans for changing Britain's town halls. And when the White Paper gets the Royal Assent in less than two months time, all three political groups will begin talking in earnest about how Bradford should be ruled.

The Secretary of State has given the Council three models to consider.

They are:

lThe electorate would choose a Mayor, who would pick his own cabinet of councillors, and they could all be from one party. The cabinet members would be able to make decisions within their remit. The Lord Mayor - who need not necessarily have experience in local government - would propose policies. They would then go to the full council.

A directly elected mayor and council manager. The mayor would act like a non-executive company chairman, while the manager would be its high powered chief executive.

A cabinet with a leader elected by the Council. The cabinet would be appointed by either the leader or full Council. If Bradford Council wanted an elected mayor - which seems unlikely - it would have to be approved through referendum

If the Council dislikes all the models, it can draw up its own.

But its proposal would come under stringent Government scrutiny and need the approval of the Secretary of State. So what will Labour leader Ian Greenwood want for the biggest local government challenge of the century, just six months into his term office?

He is far from keen to see Bradford's first elected Lord Mayor. In both the first two cases, he predicts situations where they might be out of step with councillors, creating an indecisive uncoordinated authority.

So it seems likely the controlling group would plump for the option which would make City Hall almost like a mini-Westminster, with a cabinet of executive councillors.

But there are likely to be problems with the many vociferous and active "back benchers". They would not have the decision-making powers of the super-councillors. They might well be frustrated and unhappy about their lack of "teeth".

"This is something which will need thoughtful and mature consideration,'' said Coun Greenwood. "These changes aren't going to happen overnight and we want to see the full details in November before we firm up our plans. Everyone will have a full say''

Words of warning

The leader of the Council's Tory group Councillor Margaret Eaton said: "They are tinkering at the edges of the Council's internal management, but all this is pointless unless we end secrecy and open the doors to greater democracy in Bradford.

"It is unfortunate the Freedom of Information Act which the Government promised has been put on a back burner. It is worrying that there is no mention of the opposition in the Paper."

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said her party had two concerns.

"Firstly the failure to address low voter turn out, the lack of public confidence in the probity of local government and the belief that town halls have no real influence or power. It is a damning indictment of local government in Bradford that the turn-out in the May elections here was less than 30 per cent. The proposals for city mayors and cabinet government will not necessarily result in greater efficiency, transparency and accountability."

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