Press release

Referendum campaign targets South Tyneside Council

A campaign to make South Tyneside Council (STC) more democratic and transparent in the way it operates has taken to the streets of the borough.

Citizens Assembly South Tyneside (CAST) is asking local voters to sign a petition which calls for a borough-wide referendum on the proposal to end the current leader and cabinet system of governance.

The petition calls for a return to the committee system which would give councillors from all parties a say in what goes on. At present, they are excluded from deliberations.

The idea is to hold the referendum to coincide with the next STC elections in 2026. If carried, STC would be obliged by law to change to the committee structure. At least 5% of the borough’s registered voters have to sign up for a referendum to take place.

A number of councils in England have gone back to committees. These include Sheffield, Folkstone & Hythe, Cheshire East, Bristol, St Albans and Maidstone. The Isle of Wight is in the process of creating committees.

Dru Haynes, chair of CAST, said: “We had a fantastic response in South Shields when we launched the campaign. Our own online survey of local opinion shows that a lot of people are very dissatisfied with the council leadership and were only too ready to sign our petition.”

At present, STC is run by a cabinet, consisting of the council leader and eight other Labour councillors. There are 26 opposition councillors who have no voice. That goes for most of the 28-strong Labour group too.

“It can’t be right that decision-making is concentrated in so few hands. The lack of transparency and democracy is shocking and we need to change that,” Dru adds. “We will going round the borough over the next 12 months to collect the more than the 5658 signatures we need to trigger a referendum. It’s an old-fashioned pen and paper job because the law in this instance hasn’t caught up with digital petitions.”