The Government has issued plans to encourage England’s 12 biggest cities to have a directly-elected mayor – but it remains unclear what powers they will have.
Publishing the Localism Bill, the Government revealed the timetable for the 12 authorities to move to a mayoral system, including making current leaders ‘shadow mayors’ in the run-up to local referendums on the issue in May 2012.
However, the powers – which could include significant control over transport policy in the cities – will not be revealed until later in the parliamentary process. The powers could also vary in each city.
A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government told Surveyor: ‘Every town is different, and every town has different priorities.’
Council leaders have reacted with anger to the plans. The Government had promised not to enforce directly elected mayors without a referendum, but introducing ‘shadow mayors’ before going to the polls is seen as a move to force the system on councils.
Bradford City Council leader, Ian Greenwood, said: ‘It is a somewhat bizarre situation that [the Government] puts something in the Localism Bill to say we must have this. There is no appetite for it [in Bradford]. This is a distraction from what is really happening – a massive ideological attack on local government.’
The 12 cities: * Birmingham * Bradford * Bristol * Coventry * Leeds * Leicester * Liverpool * Manchester * Newcastle-upon-Tyne * Nottingham * Sheffield * Wakefield
