By Julian Whittle

Published at 12:10, Thursday, 21 February 2008

TWO more councillors are to be drafted onto the new board responsible for Carlisle Renaissance to counter claims it is “anti-democratic”.

Renaissance was launched by Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council as a response to the 2005 floods.

It includes major redevelopment plans for Rickergate and Viaduct Estate.

City council leader Mike Mitchelson announced proposals last month to hand over control of Renaissance to a nine-person board dominated by the private sector.

The city and county councils would have had only one representative each, prompting criticisms that elected councillors might not have enough say.

But Mr Mitchelson told the council’s executive yesterday that he had taken comments on board and would recommend that the board had four councillors.

He said: “We have to make sure the board is accountable to both councils and the Northwest Development Agency.

“The make-up of the board will be decided by the city and county councils and NWDA.”

“And statutory powers [over planning and highway matters] will remain with the respective councils.”

He added: “Arrangements will be put in place to enable scrutiny of the board by the City Council.“It is important that we formally get a scrutiny process so that the board’s decisions can be continually monitored.”

The revised board will have 12 members – two each from the city and county councils, one each from the NWDA and Cumbria Vision, and six from local businesses.

The chairman, who has a casting vote, will be chosen from the private-sector representatives.

The board will appoint a £75,000-a-year programme director to lead a Renaissance team including three development managers and an urban designer.

Total funding for this team will be £750,000 a year with the lion’s share of the money coming from the NWDA.

The original proposals for a nine-person board with only two elected members were criticised by a council scrutiny panel and, especially, by Labour county councillors. Stewart Young, leader of the county’s opposition Labour group, said: “To hand over spending of public money on this scale is unacceptable.”

Fellow Labour councillor Reg Watson said: “I believe it is anti-democratic.”

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk