NEWCASTLE City Council has set up a constitutional forum to examine the future of the city's decision making processes.

The Local Government Act 2000 requires all councils to carry out public consultation before drawing up proposals to move towards one of three executive models.

These are a directly-elected mayor with a cabinet, a leader with a cabinet, and a directly-elected mayor with a council manager.

The 15-person forum, containing eight indepen-dent members from the media, commerce, voluntary sector, education and other areas, including a representative from Newcastle's Youth Parliament, will meet for the first time on Tuesday.