I think that if the Council gives people the opportunity to establish local referendums it would be abused. Very strict rules would have to be put in place to combat this.

However, you do bring up a good point, the public needs to be more evolved with local politics.
Councillors have a tendency to avoid questions being asked, take my Twitter conversations with Cllr Stuart Collins as an example.

I did briefly mention the committee system. Due to my lack of knowledge I don’t think I can give an accurate opinion – I’ll get back to you at a later date.

Similarly the building of the incinerator at Beddington would have been an ideal subject for a local referendum (in that case involving more than one borough).

I would also want the option for the relevant electorate to be able to petition for a referendum. There would need to be a minimum number of the voters in Croydon, say, 10% in order to trigger a local referendum. But if those 10% wanted the council to do something (or not do something) then there would be a referendum and the result will be binding on the Council. By the way that referendum decision could have an affect on the level of Council Tax and that would be part of the Referendum.

So, for example, if the refurbishment of Fairfield Halls was done without closure or the enabling development and that would put, say, an extra £50 per year on the Council Tax then if the result of the referendum was not to close the Fairfield Halls the Council Tax would then be £50 higher than previously budgeted.

Obviously the smaller issues would still be decided by the elected councillors, albeit that they could be overturned by a binding referendum (as described above) if enough people were against that decision.

I notice that you have not commented about the Committee system.

1) There are so many different groups/demographics; everyone will want something different, which makes it difficult and time consuming to come to a decision.

2) Sadly, there are many people out there who purely don’t care for others (especially minority groups). They will out-right ignore them, and their needs.

3) Sometimes the best ideas put in place by the government are not liked by the public. For instance, Timothy Geithner (previous US Treasury) was hated for his policy to stop recession, but it worked. We aren’t all economically-minded; in some cases it’s best to leave it to trained-professionals.

I know the US Senate uses some form of the committee system. I don’t know too much about it.
You say a council elects a leader, what if their choice isn’t liked by the public?

In dire situations decisions need to be made quickly, there isn’t always time to listen to everyone’s opinion.

It is a shame that you said that Direct democracy is not quite right for Croydon. Surely if the views of minority groups were valid then they would be supported by the majority of people? I would be interested to hear what views of minority groups would be overridden by the majority?

One administrative arrangement that you did not mention is the Committee system. This is where a Council elects a leader to represent the authority, but they have no executive power. Power is exercised by a number of committees, made up of Councillors in proportion to their parties’ representation on the Council. If a committee is unable to make a decision, or a minority group wish to challenge it, the decision may be referred to a meeting of the full Council for a final decision.

Several local authorities have returned to that system. What do you think of it?