ATTEMPTS to radically alter the way that people elect local politicians in Basingstoke and Deane have been described as a “desperate attempt to cling to power”.

As reported by The Gazette, Conservative borough council leader Councillor Clive Sanders, expressing a personal opinion, wants to see a reduction in the number of councillors from 60 to 45, and the holding of elections every four years.

Cllr Sanders, who said his views were prompted by a possible Boundary Commis-sion review of borough wards, believes reducing the number of councillors and switching to four-yearly elections would save hundreds-of-thousands-of-pounds a year, allow for better long-term planning, and encourage more people to come out and vote.

However, leading opposition councillors have refused to back the plans or support a possible review.

Commenting on Cllr Sanders’ views, Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Gavin James said: “It would save money but I do not believe this should be achieved at the expense of representative democracy. If you go with the train of thought that reducing councillors would save money, we might as well just have one person running the country.”

Independent forum co-ordinator Cllr Ian Tilbury also disagreed with the proposals. He said: “I agree with getting rid of 15 councillors, but the trouble is they would all be from Clive’s party.

“Will it save money or will it just make it easier for them (the Conservatives) to keep power? The way they want to do it is to make the wards bigger so they can suck in more of the rural areas which benefit them as that is where they are strongest.

“At the moment, there is a possibility you can get rid of some of the people in power who you think are doing a bad job. If someone is in power for four years, they can make more decisions – but we have seen some pretty poor decisions in this borough in recent times.”

Labour group leader Cllr Laura James uncovered a letter sent by Cllr Sanders to the Boundary Commission in 2006 where he said: “Streamlining of representation and the concentration of decision-making in fewer hands will only distance the voter from the process of local Government.”

He added: “Residents strongly prefer a local person to represent them who is easily accessible and understands the needs of the local community.”

Commenting on the letter, Cllr James said: “It is completely hypocritical. This is just a desperate political attempt by Cllr Sanders and his party to cling on to power.”

Speaking of the potential cost benefits, Cllr James added: “I am not sure the evidence has been proved.

“It would be a reduction in the democracy of this council, and democracy costs money. We could have elections every 10 years. It would be even cheaper then!”

Referring to his 2006 comments, Cllr Sanders said: “At the time, I was arguing against a reduction to 30 councillors. Here we are six years later, and we are all looking at trying to make ourselves more effective and efficient.

“Anyone who says they haven’t learned something in six years of being a councillor would not be a particularly good councillor.”

He added: “Just sticking with what we have got without even asking the question, which is all I’m doing, doesn’t seem right, particularly in the economic climate that we find ourselves in.”