For Info:
The following cities will hold ballots on 3 May on whether to adopt the elected mayor system.
Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield.
The wording of each referendum is:
Question: How would you like ______ council to be run?
By a Leader who is an elected councillor chosen by the other elected councillors.
This is how the council is run now.
or
By a Mayor who is elected by voters.
This would be a change from how the Council is run now.
At the same time, Doncaster will vote on whether to abolish its directly-elected mayor. The wording of this referendum is:
Question: "How would you like Doncaster Council to be run?
By a mayor who is elected by voters. This is how the council is run now.
or
By a leader who is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors. This would be a change from how the council is run now.
Elected Mayor's were a Labour idea and now that Labour have had three goes at getting their own elected and failed, I would expect the local Labour group, now that it entirely in the hands of the meglomaniacs of the Manor Mafia, will go hell for leather to have the post removed.
Unfortunately, Drummond has so discredited the whole idea, they will more than likely succeed.
A blessing then by Stuart!
Whats he going to do next? no cop job, no mayor job and with his house being built and Wynyard..
So unless he had plenty of funny money knocking about his about screwed.
Chey Garland promised him his job back anytime and as you know she never lies :-\
He could always get a job at the Mail.. ::)
He wouldn't look right standing at the bottom of the York Road ramp ;)
I think you'd better all pray that Drummond has a responsibility transplant because the alternative looks like the C.A.B. as part-time Leader of the Council on £35,000 a year plus his existing 'voluntary sector' salary and S.A.B. as the even more part-time Chair of the Council which will add £18,000 plus to his existing salary - oh and a clothes allowance (I'm saying nowt ;D).
Muttering to himself about the good old days and how it used to be!! ;)
'how it used to be' isn't on offer anymore
If SCAB2 became Mayor would SCAB 1 be the Mayoress?
I meant S.D. standing at the bottom of the ramp selling the Mail..muttering to himself.
Well if the Mayor (Leader of the Council) is elected by Councillors and Labour are in the majority, what else are you expecting to happen?
That IS the only alternative on offer to having an elected Mayor voted in by the people.
Can C.A.B. do a worse job than Stuart has?
I would rather see Lawrence with the job than either of them..
Quote from: mk1 on May 03, 2012, 06: PM
If SCAB2 became Mayor would SCAB 1 be the Mayoress?
He would be tickled pink with that!!
Its far easier getting rid of a council leader than an elected mayor..
I would like to see the mayor post binned or put it back to the old ways when you did the job for free but second to that, I honestly would rather see Ray Wells in the job than C.A.B.
Dumbo was on R4 this morning saying elected mayors should be enforced just like elected police commissioners are being brought in.
Quote from: kipperdip on May 04, 2012, 08: AM
I notice that 4 cities so far have said NO via referenda to having elected Mayors. The BBC reckons that most (if not all) of the towns having referenda are likely to say NO
Good on them
A pity Hartlepool's electorate were suckered in when we had the choice, is it not?
We must have another say but also offer the abolition of the council cabinet system as well. Every elected councillor should have an equal say and every vote recorded and reported without fail.
Yes Councillors should be equal, but then they have to get of their backsides and actually TURN UP, PARTICIPATE, PULL THEIR WEIGHT if not they might as well be cardboard cut outs.
Quote from: kipperdip on May 04, 2012, 10: AM
...they didn't want to end up with a two=faced, money grubbing, useless chancer like you.
(http://zenstoves.net/Pots/GreasePot.jpg)
(http://kettle-kitchen.co.uk/images/Bosch%20TWK6733%20Jug%20Kettle%20Brita%20filter.jpg)
??
Despite the elected mayors position being discreditedi Doncaster, the electorate still chose it over leader and cabinet when it came to a referendum.
Just goes to show that if some people had gotten their way and pushed for a referendum prematurely we'd have possibly been stuck with it for another 10 years. By waiting we will have the choice o return to the previous committee system with a ceremonial mayor.
I would support the move to include all Councillors in decision making which means some form of decision making committee.
With regard to a ceremonial mayor - this again would be an improvement - but - in order to do the job of ceremonial mayor, opening shops, visiting elderly peoples groups, being an ambassador for the town, there was always an allowance for clothes, (mayor and mayoress/consort)and a car to get them there. We wouldn't want them turning up in trackies and trainers in a yellow cab - and an expenses allowance for the costs incurred in promoting the town in the Northern area.
I am not suggesting that this should be a large amount of money, but the costs themselves should be reimbursed as a bare minimum, if not it won't be a move back of 10 years, it will be a move back of more than a century, when only the rich could afford to take it on.
So lots of discussion to be had - but the principle is right.
Liverpool have just elected their first Mayor.
He was the previous Council Leader!
Logical or what? Perhaps he has taken a drop in salary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/04/labour-landslide-liverpool-mayor-council-election?newsfeed=true
The fact that Doncaster have had a referendum shows that we could have had one.
The petition we carried out did lead to the debate at Full Council even though those in power did not want it.
There are still some who want to keep the directly elected mayor. That is what you are up against.
However our petition has been logged with the Secretary of State and it is noted that the delay has been set so that a wider and more appropriate range of choices may be available through the Localism Act.
The Council are already setting up for the Mayoral Election next year and the actual four year cycles for Councillors are in line with that, so even with many Councillors wanting to get rid of the mayor, don't think it will be that easy.
I wonder who the unlucky ones will be in 2013?
The council will have to make arrangements for a mayoral election next year Christine because the public may wish to keep the current system.
You say "There are still some who want to keep the directly elected mayor. That is what you are up against" - I say that is democracy and the people will decide either way whether you, we or I like the outcome or not.
Quote from: The Shadow on May 05, 2012, 12: PM
The council will have to make arrangements for a mayoral election next year Christine because the public may wish to keep the current system.
You say "There are still some who want to keep the directly elected mayor. That is what you are up against" - I say that is democracy and the people will decide either way whether you, we or I like the outcome or not.
You are correct Shadow, it's up to the electorate to decide and due process has to be taken to accommodate this.
They are planning the next Mayoral Election specific to Hartlepool next year.
They may not be holding it if the Referendum is brought in November with the option to go back to the previous system, as the Councillors may be able to choose. Quite frankly, if it saves us money, that is fine by me!
Its easier to get rid of a leader than a Mayor. Are Labour still refusing to provide cabinet members ?
That would leave the Mayor in a bit of a spot..it would be handy then for Labour to have the IndyLabs, so it looks like they are not playing ball while keeping the IndyLabs on their Labour lead.
Business is picking up in the mayors office then.
Drummond is a LAME DUCK if no-one joins his cabinet, he's finished..
Interesting comments BUT what of the renumeration package that comes with being a cabinet member? wont that tempt them to accept the thirty pieces of silver.
Otherwise it's going to be Drummond & Hill now that has got to be the best comedy duo since ??????????.
You choose!
Quote from: christine blakey on May 05, 2012, 03: PM
Quite frankly, if it saves us money, that is fine by me!
Scrapping the bus subsidies saves us money.
Closing libraries saves us money.
Closing our hospital saves us money.
Are they all fine by you too?
Getting rid of the mayor may bring about more accountability as there will be one less place to pass the buck back and forth between.
The other option is to save money by sharing a mayor with another town :)
Couldn't we just cut out the 92,400 middle men and give our mayor to another town. ;D
Drummond has been a waste of space who shirks responsibility, hasn't a clue how to lead and has shown himself, through his Police Authority job, to have his nose in the trough just as much as the worst of his contempories.
That said, someone tell me how handing over the same executive powers to a group that last week showed that it only has 7% support from the electorate would be more democratic.
Wrong person, YES. Wrong system - I don't think so. Drummond can legitamately claim to have far more of a mandate than the alternative.
We dont need a mayor whoever it may be..
If we had to be stuck with one who would you vote for?
Quote from: testicles on May 08, 2012, 04: PM
We dont need a mayor whoever it may be..
Yea, what we need is C.A.B. with the same executive powers with a 7% mandate. For f*c* sake get a grip man......
I wouldn't vote for anyone for mayor ever because the job has no credibility or power. It is safer to have 33 people squabbling over power rather than one person being in control.........see Russia, North Korea,Zimbabwe, Chechnya, Iran etc
But he supports Hartlepool United
The MAIL promoted him well in 2001-2 and supported a mayor.
SD, or should we say Hangus was elected simply because the electorate looked at the other candidates and were underwhelmed, especially as it appeared the whole business appeared to be the unchallenged election of King Leo.
Knowing the irreverance of the electorate in this town I wasn't surprised by election result and once you're elected and the same electorate aren't given a promising alternative, they tend to play safe and re-elect the same candidate.
Maybe the recent election results could have been different if one party had dressed up as wacky characters.
Just to settle a big myth, I go to Pools and talk to those around me and can only think of one person who professed to voting for Mr Drummond. For most supporters . Pools is part of our life, but not our life.