Liverpool residents are to be consulted on how they think the city should be governed from 2023.
A motion at a Full Council meeting in January asked council officers to draw up a consultation over the future model of political leadership in the city.
A report to the Cabinet on 18 March proposed that a letter is sent to every household in the city, with a secure link to an online portal, to answer the question: ‘How would you like Liverpool City Council to be run?’
The three options available are: a mayor who is directly elected by voters every four years, which is the current system; a leader who is an elected councillor, chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors; and one or more committees made up of elected councillors.
If approved, the consultation will begin on 28 March and end on 20 June, after which officers will analyse the responses. The outcome will be reported to Full Council who will make the final decision.
City solicitor and monitoring officer Dan Fenwick said: ‘The council wants to give as many people as possible the chance to have their say over the future governance of Liverpool City Council. A consultation is the only way that local people can express a preference for all three available governance models and we have made the process as clear and simple as we can.’
A referendum on whether to change governance arrangements was ruled out by Full Council on cost grounds as it is estimated it would have a price tag of £450,000, compared to £120,000 for the consultation.
