Lewisham Council’s democracy review working group has been appointed, with eight councillors preparing for an October launch.

Deputy Mayor councillor Chris Best along with Cllr Kevin Bonavia, Cllr Juliet Campbell, Cllr Patrick Codd, Cllr Colin Elliott, Cllr Alex Feis-Bryce, Cllr Aisling Gallagher and Cllr Sakina Sheikh form the working group – with Cllr Bonavia leading the review.

The councillors will start work over the summer months as part of the review, which will make recommendations to enhance transparency, openness and increase public involvement in council decisions, according to documents.

Recommendations should be presented to the council as early as possible in 2019, and should be implemented in the next year or as soon as possible thereafter.

Cllr Bonavia said the councillors, who formed a mix of council experience and backgrounds, would be working across the community as part of the review.

“Unlike a typical scrutiny review, most of the evidence gathering will be out of town hall – it’ll be across the borough, eg schools, ward assemblies, community groups etc.,” he said.

“We’re currently working on logistics and how we engage as widely as possible, with public launch in October.”

The group will not have formal decision-making powers but will be able to make recommendations to council.

Those recommendations would be subject to another report to council if they were to lead to changes in the constitution.

Other points of investigation include reviewing methods used by other local authorities to involve residents, and consulting with overview and scrutiny committee about how to develop councillor participation in the scrutiny process.

An allocation of £10,000 has been earmarked from corporate resources to cover any necessary expenses associated with this review, according to council documents.