Current Structure
Unlike most other English local authorities, the Borough is now governed by a directly-elected Mayor who is also the political leader of the council. The Mayor elected for a second term in office and representing the Labour Party, is Jules Pipe CBE and is supported by a Cabinet, Councillors and a Speaker, currently for 2010-2011 Councillor Sally Mulready; who fulfils the civic and ceremonial duties previously undertaken by the (non-political) mayor.
The Borough is divided into nineteen electoral wards, each returning three Councillors in a first three past the post system of elections. The Mayor of Hackney selects approximately nine Councillors to make up a Cabinet who take responsibility of the governance of the Borough's civil service, and represent the Mayor and Council on strategic bodies such as Team Hackney, the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) Hackney Homes which manages the Borough's housing estates, and the Learning Trust, governing the provision of education within the Borough.
The quasi-judicial functions of the Council called Regulatory, are carried out by exclusively back-bench Councillors. The Planning Sub-Committee and the Licensing Committee make independent decisions that oversee both the private and public sector and decide upon a wide range of petitions for permission to build, demolish or otherwise transform the built environment and upon requests for license for the public display of wild animals thru public entertainment to the transport of hazardous waste. The other committees that make up Regulatory are the Standards Committee, Regulatory Committee, Pensions Sub-Committee, and Audit Sub-Committee.
The Mayor, Cabinet, and Regulatory are all held to account by the system of Overview and Scrutiny (O&S). This is formed into an Overview and Scrutiny Board, chaired normally by the leader of the opposition but currently by a Councillor nominated by the Conservative Party group, and the Scrutiny Commissions, the five sub-committees of the Board.
- Children and Young People Scrutiny Commission
- Community Safety and Social Inclusion Scrutiny Commission
- Governance and Resources Scrutiny Commission
- Health in Hackney Scrutiny Commission
- Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Hackney
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