Local democracy is how residents choose councillors, follow decisions and hold the council to account. Rosehaven Council will operate as a democratically governed principal council, with elected councillors, formal meetings, executive decision-making, scrutiny and published records of council business.
How the council will be governed
All elected Rosehaven councillors will form Full Council. Full Council deals with matters reserved to the whole council and elects the council leader under the leader-and-cabinet model unless another lawful executive model is adopted. Executive arrangements provide for day-to-day executive decision-making within the council's agreed framework, while overview and scrutiny gives non-executive councillors a distinct role in examining policy, decisions and performance.
Audit, governance and standards arrangements provide further safeguards. The council's administration includes the Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer, supported by the democratic, legal, financial, audit, procurement, records, complaints, equality, safeguarding-governance, resilience and performance functions needed to run a public authority properly.
Elections and representation
Councillors are elected from wards using first past the post. Ordinary principal-council elections are all-out every four years unless later law provides otherwise. Rosehaven's ward boundaries, council size and number of councillors have not yet been determined, so there are currently no Rosehaven councillors or wards to search on this website.
Meetings, decisions and public records
When the council begins democratic business, residents will be able to use this section to find meeting information, agendas and reports, minutes and formal decisions. Publication is part of accountable government: it should be possible to understand what was considered, who had responsibility for the decision and what the council decided.
Taking part
Participation is broader than voting at an election. A functioning council can provide routes for residents to follow proposals, respond to consultations, contribute views and evidence, raise appropriate matters with elected representatives and use formal participation arrangements established by the council. Rosehaven has not yet opened those routes because its democratic institutions have not commenced.
Until commencement, this section explains the democratic system without presenting fictional meetings, consultations, petitions or office-holders. As genuine Rosehaven democratic records are created, they will replace the current establishment information.