So, fed up councillors have triggered an extraordinary meeting of Cornwall Council to discuss a vote of no confidence in leader Alec Robertson.

Many would say ‘about time’ after a large number of fiascos at the authority in recent years, but as far as I can see from the outside looking in, the problems run far too deep to be solved by a simple change of leadership.

Mr Robertson, who came from nowhere to be elected leader when the authority was set up in 2009, has faced accusations of being out of touch with the public, and indeed with other councillors, and to some extent, his actions have not helped remove that perception.

The most recent example, and probably the trigger for the current crisis, was the decision to press ahead with the privatisation of council services despite a vote against the plan at a meeting of the full council.

A statement issued on behalf of the leadership made it clear that, despite the misgivings of the majority of councillors at the meeting, the cabinet committee felt they knew best and would ignore the vote.

I am sure they would claim it is a sign of strength of leadership to have the belief in your own ideas to press ahead despite the opposition.

However, I do not view it as a sign of strength, but as more of an alarming lack of understanding of how the electorate will view your actions.

We voted in these councillors, they supposedly represent our views, and yet their voices are ignored by the ruling cabinet committee.

It is the very fact that this situation can arise that I believe is at the root of the council’s problems.

Instead of using the old committee style of management, where issues are debated by the whole council and decided on a majority vote, they use the cabinet system, where just 12 members make the decisions on behalf of the other 111 councillors.

The style of management inevitably leads to a bunker mentality developing, where the same 12 members face criticism for everything that goes wrong at the council, and a ‘them and us’ attitude soon develops.

Surely, and especially on such a politically divided council, everybody’s voice should be heard. There may be flaws with the old committee system, but its replacement has proved to be even more divisive and unpopular. Whatever happens at next month’s meeting, and I believe it is too close to call whether Mr Robertson will survive, surely the council needs to start looking at its system of management, and to do so sooner rather than later.