Nottingham City Council has voted to oppose government plans to hold a referendum for an elected mayor next year, a move likely to further inflame tensions between the authority Eric Pickles.

Talking with The MJ last month the communities secretary, who sent a Freedom of Information request to the council in a bid to force the council to disclose their spending details, remained steadfast in his support for powerful, elected city figureheads.

Following last night's vote, Nottingham CC deputy leader Cllr Graham Chapman branded the referendum estimated at £300,000 and an expected £115,000 salary for the mayor as a 'costly gamble'.

He said the proposal is 'an unnecessary distraction with an expensive price tag'.

'Forcing Nottingham to hold a costly referendum when money is tight and we’ve got budget cuts of £52 million over three years already hurting our public services,' Cllr Chapman added.

Although the coalition dropped controversial plans to appoint shadow mayors in the third reading of the localism Bill, referenda on elected mayors will be held on 3 May next year in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Wakefield.

In launching the Open public services white paper yesterday, David Cameron cited elected mayors in major cities as a key example of decentralisation measures allowing power to be held as locally as possible.

During a House of Lords debate last month, local government minister Baroness Hanham stated councils could at any time follow the lead of Leicester City Council which axed the post of chief executive and appointed Sir Peter Soulsby as directly-elected city mayor.