COUNCILLORS will discuss returning to a committee system and implementing elections once every four years at a meeting tonight.

Conservative councillors Shane Hebb and deputy group leader James Halden are presenting two motions to the council.

Cllr Hebb's motion proposes that the council returns to whole elections every four years, moving away from the current system which elects the council by thirds.

And Cllr Halden's motion will ask the council to consider whether it should return to a "committee" system, rather than operating under the current "cabinet" system.

A committee system would mean that decisions the council makes would be taken by committees made up of political parties, representative of how the council is formed.

Thurrock Council - like most council's in the country - currently operates on a leader and cabinet system. The council moved to the system when it was introduced by the Local Government Act in 2000.

The council's decisions are made by the cabinet, led by a leader - in Thurrock's case Labour's John Kent - and their decisions are scrutinised by overview and scrutiny committees.

The move would effecively scrap the cabinet system - though a leader and deputy leader would remain in place.

Announcing the motions ahead of tonight's meeting, Cllr Halden said: "The current system is not ideal for Thurrock.

At present, we have council elections each year, but we elect a council leader with vast powers once every four years.

"This means that the public can reject a party, not give it a majority in the chamber, but that party could still govern with very few checks and balances.

"That is wrong, and it needs to change. This is not an issue indicative of this Labour administration, it is an issue all councils of all political colours are facing up and down the nation."

He added: "We do not want to hamstring the executive, but rather ensure that all members have meaningful roles to act upon the wishes of their own electorates, not simply to sit on scrutiny committees just “noting” papers.

"We want the public to give a clear steer to their elected leaders so we can drive in the direction that has been consented too.

"In our minds, this means ending the elections of members in thirds and ending the monopoly of the cabinet to exercise functions.

"This certainly does not mean we have closed minds. We do not want to unilaterally scrap the cabinet system or the regular input of the voters that yearly elections allow. This is a conversation we want to have with all members of all parties."

The two motions will be discussed at council tonight. 

The Thurrock Gazette will be running a live-feed of the meeting on its website. Follow the debate by going to www.thurrockgazette.co.uk from 7pm.