Column: Former councillor, mayor and MP Sir Bob Russell is the only person who still has a public profile from when the current Colchester borough was established in 1974. Here he writes about the political evolution at the town hall over the past five decades

THE merger of town and country local councils in 1974 has seen several changes to the political administration of Colchester Council.

Back then, it was a joint-administration with the Conservatives and Labour each not quite achieving a majority on the 60-seat council, with three Tiptree Residents’ Association councillors holding the balance.

Today’s borough is a combination of the historic area of Colchester, the former urban district council areas of West Mersea and Wivenhoe and the 30 or so villages which formed the former rural district council area called Lexden and Winstree (named after Saxon Hundreds from 1,000 years ago, although urban Lexden was in the historic borough).

In 1976, the Conservatives obtained a comfortable overall majority, which led to 13 years of Conservative control until 1987 when they gave way to allow the newly-established SDP/Liberal Alliance to form a minority administration with just 22 out of the 60 councillors, which I led for four years.

In 1988, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Liberal Party merged to become the Liberal Democrats.

At its peak, the party had 34 borough councillors.

There were also five Lib-Dem county councillors.

All this provided the platform for Colchester residents to elect me as Liberal Democrat MP at the 1997 General Election.

By 2000, the local Government scene in Colchester changed.

All councils were forced by Labour Government legislation to abandon the committee system and replace it with a cabinet system.

In Colchester, where the number of Liberal Democrat councillors had fallen back, the cabinet comprised just five members – two Liberal Democrat, two Conservative and one Labour.

By the following year, this increased to a cabinet of eight, with an additional member for each of the three parties.

In 2004, this tri-party arrangement ceased and the Conservatives filled all the cabinet places, having gained more seats.

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However, in 2008, the Conservatives lost overall control and were replaced with a “progressive alliance” of Liberal Democrat, Labour and Highwoods Independents, which ran the borough council for 13 years until this month when the three Highwoods Independent Councillors – having quit the administration several months ago – aligned themselves with the Conservatives, with whom they have formed a new administration to run Colchester Council.

Five years ago, the Local Government Boundary Commission agreed with the council that the number of councillors should be reduced from 60 to 51.

The administration which has just taken over has 23 Conservatives and three Highwoods Independents, a total of 26.

The opposition parties have 25 councillors between them – 12 Liberal Democrat, 11 Labour and two Green.

History shows us that over the past 47 years the local Government political scene in Colchester is never dull.

In my opinion, it would be even better – and more democratic – if the cabinet system was scrapped with a restoration of a system whereby all councillors are involved and have an equal say in the decision-making process.

The Coalition Government in 2010 gave local councils the option to revert to a committee system, involving all councillors.

Despite my entreaties to my own party locally to adopt what our national party had made available to them, so entrenched had the system of cabinet rule become that such greater involvement of all 51 councillors has not happened.

Having so much power placed in the hands of a handful of councillors, irrespective of which political party or grouping can engineer a majority, is not good.

Local democracy deserves better than this.

Councillors are elected as the people’s representatives at the town hall and all councillors should have an equal say in the running of the council.