Adur District Council will scrap its current committee system in June for a more streamlined version.

Executive committees will be supervised by scrutiny panels and the number of councillors on committees will be halved.

Up to 15 sit on the bigger committees but in future there will be just seven.

Scrutiny panels will be chaired by opposition councillors and will have the power to call in experts.

Adur will hold some scrutiny meetings in different parts of the district rather than just at the Civic Centre in Shoreham.

A new way of paying councillors for attending meetings will also be introduced.

They receive an allowance of £16.20 a meeting but in future there will be a flat rate of £500 a year for each councillor or £800 for those with responsibility.

That compares with £30,000-a-year allowances for Brighton and Hove city councillors with responsibility and £20,000 for the same position on West Sussex County Council.

Tory councillor Neil Parkin said: "The Cabinet system in Brighton and Hove has been widely criticised for placing too much power in a few hands. It helped us to decide that system was not for us."