A council will spend £100,000 on a restructure despite fears over the “ongoing burden” it could bring.

Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) voted overwhelmingly to prepare to move from a cabinet system to a committee structure by May 2024, with a budget of £100,000 to undertake the work.

The Green-Lib Dem administration on the council, as well as the Labour group, all promised the constitutional shake-up in their manifestos ahead of the election last month.

Deputy leader of the council and Lib Dem leader Cllr Tim Prater proposed the motion at a full council meeting on June 21.

“It’s no secret that our new administration believes our council, and most importantly our residents, are better served by a committee system than a cabinet,” Cllr Prater said.

“The reason is that the committee system hears all parties’ views when making key decisions, but the cabinet locks some out.

“It’s going to cost us some money, everything does.

“This is an investment in getting our rules right to win the prize that we all want – principle, commitment, listening, all groups involved and no one excluded,” he added.

However, the motion came under fire from some members, with Tory Cllr Clive Goddard saying: “If it’s not broke don’t fix it.

“I believe the cabinet system works in all the time I’ve been on this council.”

Cllr Goddard also scrutinised the costs, saying he worried about getting “another 100,000 out the coffers just after we've been talking about putting money into the community”.

“I think I need to remind you, Cllr Goddard, that when we rebranded Folkestone & Hythe District Council out of Shepway we didn’t worry about the cost,” said Cllr Nicola Keen (Lab) in response.

“This is a democratic move and I think it’s going to be the best thing for the people of Folkestone and the Marsh.

“So let’s not worry about £100,000 because we spent a hell of a lot more on other projects that didn’t take off, this one will,” she continued.

FHDC has had a cabinet structure since 2002 - meaning the council elects a leader who can get the support of the largest group of members, and that leader appoints cabinet members with specific responsibilities.

However, councils can also have committee systems.

Committee systems can take a variety of forms, but all of them share in common that decisions are not made by one cabinet member, but by committees to deal with specific areas.

Only Swale Borough Council and Maidstone Borough Council in Kent have committee structures, all others currently have leaders and cabinets.

The money will be used to pay for consultants, research, and other external help to design a new structure of decision making for the council and rewrite its constitution.

Cllr Mike Blakemore (Green) suggested to members that residents’ distrust of the council began in 2019 when the cabinet ignored a full council vote to scrap the controversial Princes Parade development.

“We have to do something to address that mistrust that people have for their council, we want people to feel that this is their council,” he said.

However, Cllr Alan Martin (Con) was dubious of the claimed benefits of the committee system.

“It’s over simplistic to assume that just because you’re including more people within a committee system that you are being more democratic,” he said.

“This does come at an immediate cost of possibly more than £100,000, and that’s just over the course of the first 12 months whilst we try and execute this.

“There will be an ongoing burden in the council from an admin and a financial perspective, this will unquestionably slow down decision making, and in my mind it enables the administration to be less accountable for the decisions that are made, and they can hide behind a collective view of the council overall.

“It’s no insignificant amount of money that we should be sniffing at this evening and it just feels like a step in the wrong direction.

“The council's got other, more important things to be looking at.”

Cllr David Godfrey (Con) added: “I just don’t see that we are serving the community as well as you think; I wonder how many of them understand the difference, or whether they even care.”

FHDC’s full council voted to back the change with 26 votes in favour, two against, and no abstentions.