25 January 2010
Source: LocalGov.co.uk ()

Elected mayors 'need more powers'


Nick Appleyard

Cities and surrounding areas could be governed by elected mayors should a ‘high level suite’ of powers be devolved, according to the New Local Government Network (NLGN).

 
London Mayor, Boris Johnson
The report says elected mayors need the same powers as London's Boris Johnson
The NLGN claims England’s 13 elected mayors are well placed to take the bold decisions needed to realistically govern during forthcoming spending cuts.
 
Its report – New model mayors: Democracy, devolution and direction – says civic leaders need the same powers as London counterpart, Boris Johnson, and has made key recommendation on how this can be achieved.
 
Report authors, Nirmalee Wanduragala and Nick Hope, argue that further incentives are necessary in order to encourage strong leadership and allow mayors to reach their full potential.
 
The report says mayors should be able to balance budgets over a four-year period, allowing greater financial flexibility to raise and lower council tax, and have the power to introduce a supplementary business rate. Mayors representing a city region should be given greater transport responsibility – mirroring those seen in London – and the power to appoint a police commissioner.
 
They should also have the power to appoint the chief executives of the local authority and local primary care trust, and should be automatically granted a seat in the second chamber of the Houses of Parliament to give a regional perspective.
 
‘Mayors, with their local mandate, are well placed to be granted wide-ranging delegated powers to help transform the way communities and citizens are served,’ the report says.
 
‘They provide clear lines of accountability, demarcated responsibility, and effective leadership so that it is clear to everyone "where the buck stops".’
 
‘Ministers can be confident that they will not to be held responsible by the electorate or the media for the particular actions of an administration in a locality.’
 
Conservative leader David Cameron committed to referendums on elected city mayors in 12 English cities should his party win the election.

Shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman said: ‘Directly elected mayors have the potential to offer cities an exciting new model of leadership, but their role will only be meaningful if we see a radical discharge of powers from Whitehall to the town hall and that means abolishing Labour’s failed tier of regional government.’

New model mayors: Democracy, devolution and direction



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