Bristol City Council is set to be run by seven policy committees after the May elections following a referendum which decided to abolish the directly elected mayor.

A working group of councillors decided the number of committees last month, but the details of what each one will do have been left for council staff to consider.

Mayor Marvin Rees is set to step down after the next local elections.

The new committees are likely to cover strategy and resources, children and education, economy and skills, environment and energy, health, care and wellbeing, homes and communities and transport.

Each committee will have nine seats, spread evenly across political parties to reflect the wider political balance in the council, and they could meet about eight to 10 times a year.

Several regulatory committees covering development control, licensing, human resources, public rights of way and public safety will continue similarly to now.

In the referendum voters were given the choice of having a mayor or a committee system in which decisions are made by groups of councillors.

Following a by-election in February the Greens became the largest part on the council with Labour as second biggest.

The Cabinet is currently led by the mayor and seven other members, all Labour.

Green councillor Heather Mack said: ‘The corporate themes are adapting and changing depending on what we judge the needs of the city are.

‘And they'll change so I think the committees should be changing.

‘I also think they'll change as the political makeup of the council changes because different political values will have different ideas about problems.’