By Jamie Hailstone Lord Heseltine has called for council chief executives to be scrapped, and instead, for authorities to be run by directly-elected ‘super bosses’. The former deputy prime minister and head of the Conservative Party’s cities task force told delegates at last week’s Tory spring conference councils did not need both chief executives, who were unaccountable and the ‘highest-paid people in most cities’, and leaders. Lord Heseltine’s idea of powerful and accountable leaders is similar to the concept of directly-elected mayors, although he was careful not to refer to them as such in his speech. ‘I believe that the time has come to combine these two jobs,’ he said. ‘I believe great cities should elect great leaders and hold them to account. ‘They should be elected by the constituency of the whole city, and not just a constituency that is often unrepresentative of it.’ Councils do not have a legal obligation to employ a chief executive and several authorities have decided to ditch the post. Daventry DC scrapped its chief executive post last year, and now alternates the position of head of paid service every 12 months among the authority’s four directors. East Hertfordshire DC replaced its chief executive with three directors in 2002, but reinstated the post last month, after the experiment fell apart. Lord Heseltine was appointed by Tory leader David Cameron last month to lead a Conservative city task force and help draw up new policies for the party. ‘Directly-elected local leaders would prepare an overall plan for the administration and development of their authority,’ added Lord Heseltine. ‘The scale of central finance would relate to the quality and imagination it contained. ‘Local leaders would be rewarded for the vision they conceived, the partnerships they formed, and the co-operation they secured at local level.’ New Local Government Network director, Chris Leslie, said: ‘It’s an interesting concept because traditionally, we’ve always had this split between the chief executive and the political leadership.’ Mr Leslie said the idea of directly-elected mayors had not taken off in England because some people thought it placed too much power in one individual’s hands. Local government minister David Miliband said last month he was in favour of Birmingham having a directly-elected mayor. j.hailstone@hgluk.com