'Give us an elected mayor'
Last updated at 13:04, Wednesday, 28 May 2008
SAVE Our Streets campaigners fighting Carlisle Renaissance plans for the city centre are backing calls for an all-powerful directly elected mayor.
Simon Osman, the Save Our Streets campaigner who stood as an independent in the city council elections on May 1, believes a directly elected mayor could help their cause.
The group is fighting Carlisle Renaissance plans to demolish homes in Rickergate to make way for a plaza with shops, offices and hotel.
Mr Osman said: “I would certainly be in favour of a directly elected mayor.
“What the last year or 18 months of our campaign has shown is that the public at large don’t have a voice.”
At present, the mayor of Carlisle is largely a ceremonial role. But a directly elected mayor would have much greater powers. In effect, he or she would replace the council leader who is selected not by voters but by other councillors. Rather than putting decisions to a discussion and vote, elected mayors have the freedom to act within a policy framework set by the council.
Ministers introduced the concept in 2000 and there are now more than a dozen including Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Doncaster and Stoke.
The system can be introduced only after a referendum triggered by the council or if five per cent of the electorate – 4,163 voters in Carlisle – sign a petition demanding one.
City councillor and would-be Conservative MP John Stevenson believes the idea would galvanise voters.
Former Carlisle mayor Judith Pattinson is also a fan but city council leader Mike Mitchelson, whose role would vanish, is against the idea.
Elected mayors need not be party politicians.
In Hartlepool, for example, football team mascot H’Angus the monkey was elected.
First published at 11:38, Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Sounds good - but think - what happens to self interest of the elected individual? Are they suddenly neutral on all grounds? Everyone has an opinion especially someone who would deem themselves worthy to serve the community.
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Candidates for mayor should be able to raise local issues and allow them the kind of airing they might not otherwise get. Local government is so dominated by party politics that the issues are never properly debated.
Posted by Elizabeth Allnutt on 29 May 2008 at 20:48