COUNCILLORS have decided to cut the number of meetings they attend to give them more time to carry out their roles in the community.

Bury Council's executive agreed on Wednesday that the current timetable, based on four ten-week cycles, involved too many meetings, taking up nearly all available evenings during the year, with no gaps for ad-hoc meetings. The number of meetings taking place during the day was also on the increase.

Councillor Wayne Campbell told the executive: "When looking at the role of councillors, we are meant to be community leaders and we can't lead the community if we are spending far too much time in the town hall. There are community meetings which councillors should be attending and we need time in the diary to allow us to do that."

During the ten-week cycles, introduced to give councillors time to fulfil their representative role, scrutiny panels/commissions and area boards met twice, the executive met every three weeks and the planning committee met once a month.

But instead of reducing the number of meetings, they increased from 227 in 2002 to 270 in 2004. The new six-week cycle, with free weeks available for additional meetings when needed, will allow scrutiny panels/commissions, area boards and the licensing panel to meet once per cycle and there will be a shorter three-week summer recess.

Executive meetings will continue to be held every three weeks and the planning committee will still meet once a month.