Campaigners’ delight at winning referendum which will change the way Sheffield Council is run

It means the existing Cabinet system will be phased out over the next year and there will be a gradual move to committees.

The number, how they are made up and how they will operate still needs to be thrashed out.

There were 89,670 votes in favour of switching to committees and 48,727 votes to keep the existing Cabinet model – almost 65 per cent in favour of switching.

The council will still have a Leader but is now in no overall control following Labour’s defeat at the local elections.

No one political party has a majority so there will need to be a coalition. Added to this, there will now be this new way of making decisions.

The referendum was triggered by It’s Our City campaigners who collected a 26,000 name petition which was handed into the council in August 2019.

It’s Our City released a statement saying: “Today is the culmination of four years hard work by residents, from nine brainstormers around a kitchen table, to open meetings with 80 plus participants, to forming a network of volunteers around the city, to the 26,000 that signed the petition and now the resounding vote for change.

“Huge thanks and congratulations go to all those involved. This is a vote to restore local democracy to Sheffield, where all councillors have the right to play a real role in council decision-making to represent us.”

It’s Our City also had a swipe at former Labour Council Leaders Julie Dore and Bob Johnson, who lost his Hillsborough seat in the local elections last week.

“The city should be very proud of this and it shows how misinformed the view of former leaders of the council was, who said that people were not interested in the way our council works.

“The result of the referendum shows how wrong they were. We expect a new modern committee system to have direct participation embedded into it, so that a range of external voices are part of city decision-making.”