LEADERS of the three parties on St Helens Council have been reacting to the possibility of major changes in the way the local authority operates as the Government embarks on its modernisation of councils programme.

The new legislation means that the St Helens Council could be restructuring according to votes cast by residents in the Borough and the Government hopes that the new act will make decision making more efficient and accountable so that local authorities can be more open and responsive.

St Helens Council has been asking townsfolk to choose between three options Council Leader and Cabinet, Mayor and Cabinet or Mayor and Council Manager in order to determine the new structure.

But the re-structuring has raised some financial concerns amongst voters who believe that modernisation will be costly and want to know where the money to fund the programme will come from.

And a spokesperson for the Council said: "We are not in a position to estimate how much money will be spent as a result of the restructuring as this is the first year that such a scheme has run and we will not be able determine how much it will cost until a decision has been made."

When asked, Conservative Councillor Betty Lowe stressed that she is ultimately seeking to achieve democracy through the restructuring.

She said: "I believe that the first option that the council has been piloting for the past year has taken a while to get off the ground and members of the opposition needed to be involved more.

But out of the three options I would support this one more than the others. This system is more effective than the others because at least you can change a Council Leader if required, whereas a Mayor is elected for a fixed four year term."

"In the spirit of the Local Government 2000 Act I think that members of the opposition should be given a chance to become more involved in the decision making process and if they aren't then the council will come unstuck.

"But I also believe that the ruling party needs to be seen to be doing things."

She added: "If I were to sum up in one word what I want from the modernisation, I would have to say that it would be democracy."

For the Liberal Democrats, Councillor Brian Spencer had this to say: "The Government has given local authorities little choice in modernising local government with the three options put forward.

"None of the options is truly democratic. The two options for a Mayor place too much power in the hands of one person however well intentioned that person may be. The option being piloted at the at the moment, Leader and Cabinet, is probably the least bad of three options. However this would still allow one party to have complete power, be allowed to meet in secret and would have very little involvement for opposition members in the decision making process. The scrutiny committee would only be able to make recommendations to the Cabinet and not alter a decision it did not agree with."

He added: "The only way that a Council can be truly accountable is to introduce a fair voting system where everybody's vote counted the same irrespective of which party they voted for. If people felt their vote meant something they would be more likely to turn out and vote."

Current Council Leader, Labour's Marie Rimmer believes that the old system does need to change. In a statement to the Star she said: "Local government does need modernising. The old committee system is outdated and I welcome the Government's initiative to bring democracy into the 21st century. My preference would be for the 'Leader and Cabinet' option - the model that St Helens has now been piloting successfully for nearly a year.

"This option would make decision making clearer and quicker. A small dedicated team of elected councillors would be accountable for key Council decision and all councillors would have more time to listen to the views of the constituents and work in their communities."

She added: "Under the Leader and Cabinet option, we would also be able to keep the historic role of the Civic Mayor. Under this option we would get better decision-making AND clearer accountability to the people of St Helens whilst retaining some of our important traditions. In my view the other two options would put too much power in the hands of an elected Mayor and would limit the effective democratic role that ward Councillors could play within the Council."

And Councillor Rimmer has urged everyone in the borough to have their say by taking part in the consultation exercise.