Unfortunately despite our team’s best efforts and a borough-wide petition roadshow, we weren’t able to hit our target of 5703 signatures (5% of the borough’s registered voters).
However, the campaign has by no means been a waste of time for a number of reasons.
Read on!
Firstly, as we reported in our May/June newsletter, our push to Transform Democracy on South Tyneside has (alongside other similar local campaigns) had nationwide consequences. In June, the government announced that they were planning to scrap the committee system of decision-making at all English councils plus the removal of the Elected Mayor and Cabinet option - leaving the Leader and Cabinet model the ONLY ‘choice’. Using cost as the justification, all moves to make local legislative changes were put on temporary hold...and still remain in place. Democracy, it seems, is only OK if it’s affordable!
Despite this, we made the decision to continue with our petition roadshow looking to see how we could use the petition in some capacity to highlight to those ‘in charge’ the level of dissatisfaction across the borough.
And this brings the second reason into play...
We’ve spoken to thousands of South Tynesiders and listened to each one, hearing the full spectrum of political views held across the borough and the myriad of reasons for the considerable - and steadily increasing - level of public animosity towards South Tyneside Council (STC)...yet those at STC remain spectacularly oblivious to the electoral carnage which is undoubtedly coming in May 2026.
Umpteen controversies, including the almost beyond belief vote to persist with the use of 1st class travel despite the huge level of debt we’ve been saddled with, are simply adding to the perception of cronyism and corruption within our local administration. Add to this the constant drip of information coming via social media and the increased opportunity to observe the pantomime of live council meetings, are all leading residents to question the calibre of our current crop of councillors.
The lack of transparency about how/why decisions are made are leading people to their own conclusions - and none are particularly complimentary to STC!
And thirdly, for our part, we’ve shone a light on some of the more ‘interesting’ workings of the council...
A lot of the people we spoke to were surprised that control of the borough’s decision-making process was in the hands of just NINE Labour Party councillors - the Leader plus 8 hand-picked colleagues although NOT surprised to learn that despite the Leader having the discretion to choose councillors from other parties, she’s made her selection exclusively from the Labour Group!
Added to that, the council could have made the change to the more inclusive, democratic committee-style of governance at any time yet chose not to. How odd...
Almost every single person across the borough was completely unaware that this ruling cabinet can be reduced to just THREE councillors! Unless the constitution is changed, no matter who holds the majority after the next election, decision-making power could be concentrated into the hands of an even smaller number of councillors.
And it’s for all of these reasons that we’re developing our ‘to-do list’ for 2026!
Our borough needs GENUINE change. Genuine community-driven, people-powered change - let’s do it TOGETHER
Copyright © CAST 2026
All rights reserved - any unauthorised use of any of our branding will constitute an infringement of copyright.
