The Role(s) of County Councillors: An Evaluation

Consultation in Local Government: A Case Study of Practice at Devon County Council

“…Although the authority had responsibility for one city (Exeter) and two towns that had over 30,000 population (Exmouth and Barnstaple) it covered a large rural population and was a member of the Most Sparsely Populated Group of local authorities. Fifth, the analysis complements studies of the executive, scrutiny and partnership reforms at the same authority (Cole, 2000a;2000b;2001c;2001e;2002a;2002b) and an evaluation of community appraisals undertaken throughout Devon (Cole, 2001b). …”

“…First, the selection of a top-tier authority ensured that the survey could incorporate consultations relevant to a wide range of service areas. Second, it was decided that these issues were best evaluated by assessing an authority that had an obvious commitment to the modernisation agenda (see Cole, 2000a;2000b;2001c;2001d;2002a;2002b). Third, at corporate level this authority had given a commitment to strengthening the effectiveness of its consultations.…”

To boundary or not: The structural bias of ‘fair representation’ in rural areas

“…Rallings and Thrasher (2003) noted that hours worked by Councilors, as well as problems associated with travel to and from council meeting, generates barriers which lead to a lower proportion of some groups in Council (e.g., women). Cole (2002) observed workload differences and a willingness to represent outside wards between councilors from geographically small but populated wards, and geographically large but less populous wards. In this research, Councilors cited difficulties in representing the whole Shire given their own community commitments, primarily as councilors were not able to: 1) go to many (if any) events outside their own community; 2) comprehend issues facing other communities; and, 3) travel easily across the large Shire:…”

Roles of Boards of Directors: Oversight and Overlap

“…Clarke (2004) saw corporate governance being about both risk-management and wealth creation (p. 161). In a more detailed description Locke and Scrimgeour (1999) state that good governance of local government councils deals with issues of; executive recruitment, asset management, strategic direction, legislative compliance, consultation, monitoring, and reporting (p. 21). Tricker (1993) by outlining his thoughts on the perspectives a director needs gives some indication of the roles a BoD may have: directors need to have perspectives that look inward at the executive management of the businesses in the company and, also, outwards to the competitive environment for the firm in its socio-economic-political milieu.…”