A WORCESTERSHIRE council is re-writing its own rule book in a bid to ensure it is better equipped to tackle important issues.

Town councillors in Upton-upon-Severn have decided to do away with the long-established and commonly-used system of having one full council meeting every month with various sub-committees meeting inbetween.

Instead all committees are being disbanded and councillors will be summoned to full meetings twice every month.

After several months of negotiations councillors finally voted unanimously to adopt a new set of standing orders, essentially the rules that govern any council.

The new system will see work between council meetings carried out by working parties and former deputy mayor Paul Bennett, who has championed the new approach, believes it will reap real benefits.

“It is a substantial change and quite forward-thinking but I am confident it will improve the quality, and hopefully the effectiveness, of decision making,” he said. “Things are changing in local government and we need to keep up with the times.

“The role of the town council is becoming more important and you can see that from the number of people attending our meetings. The lengths of agendas and the issues we are dealing with are far more serious now and involve more research and discussion.”

Coun Bennett said the changes would ensure important issues were addressed without delay and that all councillors were involved in making key decisions.

“The public would expect nothing less than that,” he added.

A new meetings schedule is currently being drawn up, with the changes taking effect from the start of April.