ABSTRACT
Prior to the reforms introduced by the Local Government Act 2000, the majority of decision making was undertaken by committees, with their decisions being ratified by a meeting of the full council. There were many criticisms of this system, not least that in reality most councils were dominated by one political party, and where the membership of committees reflected the party-political strengths of the council as a whole, opposition councillors had little impact. A further criticism was that the opportunities for holding the majority party to account were weak. The Local Government Act 2000, section 11, provided for new management structures in local government. Three different models were introduced:81
• Mayor and Cabinet Executive: Here there is a democratically-elected Mayor, who then appoints two or more councillors to the executive. The number of members may not exceed ten.
