Enfield London Borough Council

Enfield London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Enfield in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London.

Enfield London Borough Council
Type
Type
Leadership
Mayor of Enfield
Cllr Sabri Ozaydin, Labour
since 1 July 2020
Leader of the Council
Cllr Nesil Caliskan, Labour
since 16 May 2018
Chief executive
Ian Davis
since June 2017
Leader of the Opposition
Cllr Joanne Laban, Conservative
Structure
Seats63 councillors
Political groups
Administration (41)
  Labour (41)
Other parties (21)
  Conservative (16)
  Independent (5)[1]
Elections
First past the post
Last election
22 May 2018
Next election
2022
Meeting place
Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield
Website
enfield.gov.uk

History
A map showing the wards of Enfield since 2002

There have previously been a number of local authorities responsible for the Enfield area. The current local authority was first elected in 1964, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the London Borough of Enfield on 1 April 1965. Enfield replaced the Municipal Borough of Southgate, the Municipal Borough of Enfield and the Municipal Borough of Edmonton.[2]

It was envisaged, in accordance with the London Government Act 1963, that Enfield as a London local authority would share power with the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the local authorities responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. As an outer London borough council it has been an education authority since 1965. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when Enfield London Borough Council gained responsibility for some services that had been provided by the Greater London Council, such as waste disposal. Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions.[3]

In 2014 Enfield was the subject of a series of articles in the Guardian about housing policies.[4]

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation. Enfield has the powers and functions of a London borough council. It is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, and it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. It is a local education authority, responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal. The council shares responsibility with the Greater London Authority for strategic policies including housing, planning and the environment.[5]

Finances

Enfield London Borough Council is the billing authority for Council Tax, and collects precepts on behalf of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority the Greater London Authority and Transport for London.[6]

Criticism

Row over pay rises for Enfield Council officers

In October 2020, The Enfield Independent newspaper reported a row over pay increases for senior officers at Enfield Council. The pay increases are set out in the council’s draft statement of accounts for 2019-20 (page 75).[7] Members of opposition group Community First criticised hikes in pay that saw one top executive take nearly £200,000 in salary and pension contributions – up 19 per cent from £168,317 the previous year. [8]

Community First claimed a pay award to executive director of place Sarah Cary, was one of several apparent breaches of the council’s statutory pay policy. Enfield Council chief executive Ian Davis said the award came after full council delegated him the authority to carry out a restructure of the senior management team. But Community First claimed this was still a breach of policy, as it meant Ms Cary’s salary was beyond the pay band set out for executive directors. The group questioned why the reason for the increase was not published in the accounts or on the council’s website. They pointed out that in the council’s constitution, the terms of reference for the remuneration committee states: “to make recommendations to the cabinet, and council if appropriate, on strategic pay and remuneration issues relating to staff in posts graded assistant director, director and chief executive, plus other salary scales with similar levels of remuneration.”

Cllr Laban said: “The salary increase, along with a £39,000 pension contribution for the executive director for place, was unacceptable given the current position of Enfield Council. In the Conservative group’s opinion, the policy was broken. “The chief executive has the power to award additional responsibilities. However, when extra responsibilities come with more money, these need to be reported to the remuneration committee for it to make recommendations – which did not occur in the executive director for place’s case.[9]

Pay-rise for councillors after announcing budget "catastrophe" unless more central government support.

On 18 May 2020, during an interview with the Enfield Independent, Labour Leader Nesil Caliskan said local authorities faced a "catastrophe" if the budget gaps they had identified due to COVID-19 were not met with Government support.[10] On 2 July 2020, Enfield London Borough Council approved a pay-rise for its own members with strong opposition from other political parties.[11]

Councillors able to 'jump the queue' for COVID-19 testing ahead of NHS staff

On 22 May 2020, three months into the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, council leader Nesil Caliskan reportedly wrote to local residents to tell them that after "many weeks lobbying government" to ensure "frontline key workers in Enfield have access to testing", a testing centre was now available to "NHS staff or staff working in a care setting, or members of their household, with covid-19 symptoms". The letter stated tests were available by "pre-booked appointment only". The following day, Cllr. Alev Cazimoglu, council cabinet member for public health, reportedly emailed her Labour councillor colleagues to say they could get tested "with no need to pre-book", before the tests had been "rolled out to all key workers" and anyone with council ID could get tested. After the email was leaked to local media, Tory opposition leader Cllr. Joanne Laban described Cazimoglu's behaviour as "disgraceful", noting that councillors' responsibilities did not entitle them to 'key worker' status. Cllr. Laban said that as the borough's cabinet member for public health, Cllr. Cazimogulu "should have been encouraging carers, street cleaners, waste collectors and all other frontline staff" to be tested, "not her council colleagues".[12]

Council leader loses appeal over bullying case

On 4 September 2019, at an appeal hearing, the council’s conduct committee ruled Cllr Caliskan had bullied Cllr Brett and breached the local authority’s code of conduct over a decision to remove her from her post as cabinet member for public health. The dispute centred on the decision by Cllr Caliskan to discipline Cllr Brett before meeting with her to discuss the matter. However, after the ruling in June which found that her behaviour amounted to bullying, Cllr Caliskan refused to apologise and lodged an appeal. The council’s councillor conduct committee heard Cllr Caliskan’s appeal, three months after a ruling by the authority’s monitoring officer that her handling of a decision to temporarily remove Yasemin Brett from her cabinet post broke the council’s code of conduct and “amounted to bullying”. The Labour leader was instructed to write an apology to Cllr Brett and make a statement to a full council meeting “acknowledging the decision to remove Cllr Brett was done with undue haste and in an inappropriate fashion, contrary to the code of conduct”.[13]

Council leader ‘bullied colleague’ over suspension

In June 2019, Enfield Council leader Nesil Caliskan was found in an official ruling to have bullied a former cabinet member. According to the local authority’s monitoring officer, Cllr Caliskan’s decision to temporarily remove Cllr Yasemin Brett from her post broke the council’s code of conduct – and the way she handled the matter “amounted to bullying”. Cllr Brett, the former cabinet member for public health, was suspended in November 2018 after publicly disagreeing with a decision reached by the cabinet. A solicitor brought in to investigate the incident found Cllr Caliskan’s decision to suspend her breached the council’s code of conduct. In a letter from the Director of Law and Governance, issuing his ruling following the solicitor’s investigation, he said the council leader had “failed to treat Cllr Brett with respect” by failing to discuss her concerns over collective decision-making before removing Cllr Brett from her post. The Director of Law and Governance also found Cllr Caliskan had made a second breach of the code of conduct by the way she had “communicated decisions” and through her behaviour in a meeting on 18 November 2018 that “amounted to bullying of Cllr Brett by the leader of the council”.[14]

See also

References
  1. "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections". opencouncildata.co.uk.
  2. Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
  3. Leach, Steve (1998). Local Government Reorganisation: The Review and its Aftermath. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0714648590.
  4. "The Enfield Experiment". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  5. "Local Plan Responses – within and outside London". Mayor of London. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  6. "Council Tax and Business Rates Billing Authorities". Council Tax Rates. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  7. "enfield council's draft statement of accounts for 2019-20 - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  8. "Row over council bosses' pay hikes as council's finances squeezed". Enfield Independent. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  9. "Scrutiny of council pay 'inadequate', opposition group claims". Enfield Independent. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  10. "Enfield, Haringey leaders call on Govt to meet Covid-19 cost". Enfield Independent. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  11. "Spending hikes on Enfield councillor allowances slammed". Enfield Independent. Enfield Independent. 2 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  12. Private Eye, Issue 1522, 22 May 2020
  13. Dispatch, Enfield (2019-09-05). "Council leader loses appeal over bullying case". Enfield Dispatch. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  14. Dispatch, Enfield (2019-06-10). "Council leader 'bullied colleague' over suspension". Enfield Dispatch. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
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