This week we can report three defections to the Liberal Democrats in key councils around the country.

The first is the decision by Cllr Brian Haley, the Labour Cabinet Member for the Environment in the London Borough of Haringey, to quit his post and join the Liberal Democrats.  Haringey is a key council for the Liberal Democrats with Lynne Featherstone as one of the MPs in the area and with Labour holding a tiny overall majority on the council.  To attract such a senior councillor is a real coup for the party in the area.

The second and third defections are the husband and wife team Keith and Diane Bennett who have left the Conservatives on Cannock Chase District Council and joined the Liberal Democrats.  They are both chairs of council committees and will be a welcome addition to our growing council group.  The Liberal Democrats are the largest party on the council and also hold the leadership.

Unfortunately, a defection has also taken place in the opposite direction with Cllr David Theobald of the London Borough of Sutton moving from the Liberal Democrats to the UK Independence Party (via a week spent as an Independent).

Thank you to Cllr Matt Davies, Cllr Tony Williams and David Boothroyd respectively, for the information.

Liberal Democrats have taken overall control of Cheltenham Borough Council, thanks to the defection of a Conservative councillor to our group.  We previously ran the council under no overall control.

Councillor Klara Sudbury is both a borough councillor and a Gloucestershire County Councillor and will now join both the party and our groups on both councils.

In a statement, Cllr Sudbury said:

"However, I have been impressed by the work of the town’s Liberal Democrat MP Martin Horwood who has been a hard working and dedicated MP for the town for nearly five years. The Liberal Democrats have taken the lead on many local issues such as defending Cheltenham railway station from the threat of a Parkway station at Elmbridge Court and protecting services for the town’s most vulnerable people. I also fully support their proactive approach in fighting to save the town’s green spaces and Green Belt from inappropriate development."

Welcoming her to the group, Liberal Democrat council leader Cllr Steve Jordan said:

"Klara has a well deserved reputation as a campaigner on many local issues and I am very pleased that she would like to continue those campaigns as a member of the Liberal Democrat group. I warmly welcome her application to join us. Councillors represent all their constituents of whatever political persuasion and I’m sure Klara will continue to do an excellent job for local people"

One of the most significant changes in the operation of local government will take affect following next year's local government elections (and already has in the county councils that were elected this June).  Yet, this change has gone largely unnoticed by many people in the wider world.  Perhaps because, like the original change to the cabinet system, non-politicians are more interested in the outcomes of local government, than the organisation of it.

The big change though is the introduction of what is known as the "strong leader" model of local government.  This change has come about through the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.  This piece of legislation scraps the right for smaller local authorities to retain their committee systems and also removes the option of a directly-elected mayor and council manager option, which was thoroughly discredited in the only council that adopted it - Stoke-on-Trent.  This means that all councils will have to be run either by a directly-elected mayor or through a leader and cabinet.

Much has been written before about a the virtues or otherwise of directly-elected mayors.  As the majority of places that have had a referendum on having a directly-elected mayor have rejected the idea it seems odd that Labour (and now the Conservatives too) are still pushing the idea.  This means that most places, following a consultation, will end up going with the "strong leader" model.  This option includes a number of key changes that will worry many Liberal Democrats:

• Once elected by full council, the leader will continue in office for four years - until the year they are due for re-election.
• The leader will be able to choose their own cabinet which must include at least two other councillors.
• The budget can only be defeated if at least two-thirds vote it down.

The result of this is to hand huge powers to the leader, which could be especially problematic in councils where there is no overall majority or where a leader turns out to be a controversial figure.  Whilst it can be argued that councils will be more able to "get on with it", it reduces the power of backbenchers even further and would mean that new councillors have no say in who the leader is for many years once they have already been appointed.  It also means that whilst in opposition council groups can elect their leader annually and have a say in the cabinet, once in power they can only elect their leader once every four years and have no say in the cabinet.

To try and retain democracy, ALDC is suggesting that Liberal Democrat council groups continue to hold annual elections for leader and cabinet/shadow cabinet.  This would however rely on the goodwill and sense of decency of the leader to respect their democratically expressed wishes, as there would be no way of stopping them appointing different people once elected in to power. 

We are also working on suitable clauses to include in the Model Standing Orders (some clauses have already been included, but we would like to improve on them) to ensure that any leader who ignores their group's wishes can be dealt with.  We would also like to hear more from Liberal Democrats around the country on what they are doing to implement the new law whilst adhering as much as possible to Liberal Democrat principles.  If you have any "good practice" from your area, do let us know by emailing anders.hanson@aldc.org

Good news has arrived from the London Borough of Redbridge, where it has been announced that two Labour councillors have defected to us.  This increases our group there from 11 to 13 councillors.

The Liberal Democrats in Redbridge have been incredibly successful recently, with two by-election gains in Clementswood and Valentines.  With the Conservatives losing their overall majority on the council in May as a result of a number of their councillors falling out over the election of the council leader, things are looking very good for the party in next year's London elections.

Councillor Hugh Cleaver, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Redbridge Council said:

"the addition of two more experienced and able Councillors from the south of Ilford will add significantly to the strength of the Liberal Democrats on Redbridge Council. This means that the Liberal Democrats are in a strong position to make further advances in the 2010 elections. We are the fastest growing political party in Redbridge and we have shown we can play a key role in the running of the Borough for the benefit of all our residents"

For more details, visit the Redbridge Liberal Democrats website.

The Local Government Association has announced the new board chairs for the organisation, following a post-election reshuffle.  The changes see the Conservatives gaining a chair at Labour's expense, but with the Liberal Democrats retaining its two current posts.

The two Liberal Democrat chairs are:

Cllr David Rogers from East Sussex County Council, who continues as Chair of the Community Wellbeing Board, and

Cllr Chris White from Hertfordshire County Council, who continues as Chair of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board.

Both David and Chris are ALDC members, and so we welcome their continuing prominent roles in the world of local government.

The other chairs are:
Environment: Cllr Gary Porter (Con, South Holland)
Children & Young People: Cllr Shireen Ritchie (Con, Kensington & Chelsea)
Safer Communities: Cllr Les Lawrence (Con, Birmingham)
Improvement: Cllr David Parsons (Con, Leicestershire)
Regeneration & Transport: Cllr David Sparks (Lab, Dudley)