Democracy in question over right to ‘call in’ World Cup bid
By Council chiefs have recommended the ruling Liberal Democrat Cabinet should not allow councillors to exercise their right to ‘call in’ the proposed bid for World Cup host city status.
In an email sent to councillors last week, the chief solicitor said – following discussions with chief executive Jan Ormondroyd – the call-in procedure should not apply.
The recommendation raises questions about the level of democratic accountability within the council as the deadline for English cities to submit their bids to be host cities nears.
It follows a statement from the council on Friday which said the costs for Bristol to host World Cup matches in 2018 were estimated at £17million.
Published on the blog of Green Party councillor Charles Bolton, the email received by councillors read: “We (the chief solicitor and chief executive) both agree that a decision to bid to be a host city would be reasonable and that any delay in enacting the decision would seriously prejudice the council’s and the public’s interest.
“Cabinet will therefore be recommended to exclude the call in right in respect of any decision to bid.”
The report outlining the city’s bid – to be submitted to the Football Association on November 26 – will be released tomorrow for scrutiny on Friday. Cabinet will then meet on November 24 to make the final approval.
Cllr Bolton (Southville) said two main issues were raised by the recommendation to refuse the right to call in the bid proposal.
“One is the bid itself and any sort of scrutiny of it,” he wrote. “If it is published on Monday for a meeting on Friday, well that’s a bit crap – for something which may cost millions and have significant ramifications for the city.
“The other is the suspension of the call-in process. This is the first time I have heard of this being done in the three and a half years I have been a councillor. It allows me to accuse the Liberal Democrats of being liberal in fiddling with democracy for their own ends. But it seems to me to be another precedent set by our ruling executive.”
The call-in procedure is allowed under the council’s constitution, where a decision being taken is deemed as “urgent”. A decision will be urgent if any delay likely to be caused by the call-in process would seriously prejudice the council’s or the public’s interests.
With an estimated £150m boost to the region’s economy having been predicted in a PricewaterhouseCoopers report for the England Bid team, deputy council leader Cllr Simon Cook (Lib Dem, Clifton East) said the bid was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
“The financial and cultural benefits to the city are immense. We have though always said that we need to be prudent in considering the costs that would come with bidding for, and if successful hosting such matches. This is all the more true in tough economic times.
“On the 24th we will debate the benefits, the costs and the risks openly, and in public before deciding whether to submit our bid to the FA two days later.”
The council estimates costs to the city of about £17m, including an estimated £8m to pay for temporary additional stadium seating (to increase seating up to 40,000 for World Cup matches), £2m for transport costs, £2m for marketing and £2m project management, including legal and financial advice in the lead-up to the competition.
Responding to Cllr Bolton, the executive member for transport and sustainability Cllr Jon Rogers (Lib Dem, Ashley) denied that the council was “fiddling with democracy”.
“The decision is made not by politicians (though the Leader is consulted), but by the Chief Executive and the Monitoring Officer.
“Of course the World Cup bid decision will be made by the Lib Dem Cabinet, in public, on November 24. If we are to submit a bid by the deadline of November 26, there would be no opportunity for a call-in.
“Our decision will need to consider all elements of the bid, including costs, risks and likely benefits. A lack of call-in (should officers in consultation with the leader deem it “urgent” and “reasonable in all the circumstances”) would for me be one of the many risks.
“To my mind, it will be one of the most difficult and complex decisions of our administration.”
Only two councillors out of the 70 in Bristol are required to spark a “call-in” and Cllr Mark Wright (Lib Dem, Cabot) said that that while he was unnerved by the email, it would be more undemocratic for two councillors to destroy Bristol’s World Cup bid.
“When Jan (Ormondroyd) said that she intended to invoke this rule, my first reaction was ‘Eeek!’ People are right to debate the democracy of this, and my first reaction was that call-in should be allowed.
“But on a little extra thinking it becomes more complex: it’s absolutely the case that any call-in will mean we miss the bid deadline and thus Bristol’s bid to be part of World Cup 2018 would be permanently destroyed.
“Those who believe in democracy then have to ask this question: would it be right to give just two of 70 councillors the power to destroy the hopes and ambitions of the vast majority of councillors and residents?”
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