Video report: Michael Crick visits Liverpool as it prepares to elect a city-wide Mayor

Salford votes for directly elected Mayor

Salford voted Yes to a directly elected Mayor in a referendum yesterday and so will elect a Mayor in May.

The vote was 17,344 in favour to 13,653 against. So a clear majority. But a low turnout of 18%.

Geoffrey Berg, whose petition brouught about the referendum said:

"We are very pleased, especially as Labour tried everything to say that people didn’t want a vote in the first place, and that that it was a waste of money. I don’t know if I will run yet but there will be a candidate campaigning for a 50pc reduction in council tax.”

Cllr Karen Garrido, leader of the Conservative opposition said:

“I’m delighted that the people have decided to vote for an elected mayor, which will make a big difference to Salford. It will hopefully break the 40-year rule by Labour.”

Elections for city mayors planned for November 15th

The Daily Telegraph reports that elections for mayors in major cities will be held on November 15th. It could be as many as 11 depending on which decide too switch to the system in referendums on May 3rd. The decision makes sense as it will boost turnout and reduce cost as that will be the same day as the sheriffs or "Police and Crime Commissioners" are elected.

There will be up to 11 cities choosing a directly elected mayor. I'm not sure it will make difference. There is the claim that it will allow money to be saved by abolishing the council's chief executive but a council could do that anyway. It gives a chance for an independent to be elected. But Peter Davies , the English Democrat elected Mayor of Doncaster, has been thwarted from cutting Council Tax or achieving anything much as there is a majority of Labour councillors whose approval he needs for the budget. Doncaster is ditching the directly elected Mayor model.

Liverpool is among the cities expected to vote Yes in May. But if the Labour Council leader Cllr Joe Anderson becomes the Mayor will his change of title really be transformational for the city?

The 11 cities are  Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield.

Salford are ahead of the pack - they hold a referendum for a directly elected mayor tomorrow. The Englsh Democrats claim it could mean lower Council Tax. What would really help would be a referendum on lower Council Tax. At the moment there is only a chance to have a referendum stopping big Council Tax increases.

Referendum in Salford next month for directly elected mayor

There is to be a referendum in Salford next month on having a directly elected Mayor. This follows a petition with 9,062 valid signatures, over 5% of the electorate, calling for one. If the referendum approves the proposal then an election for a directly elected Mayor will follow in May.

The driving force behind the campaign is Geoffrey Berg. He is a member of the English Democrats and has put out a leaflet which points out the high level of Council Tax. It suggests changing the system would provide a lower Council Tax. Would it? In Doncaster the English Democrats candidate Peter Davis was elected but his pledge to cut the Council Tax has not materialised - partly because there were enough Labour councillors to thwart it.

Also there is a complication as Mr Berg has a dispute with the Council over the condition of an empty shop he owns. He says no resident has complained about it yet "the Council want it repainted another colour," The council claim it is an eyesore.

Why do Labour mayors need Olympics passes?

Cllr Peter Golds, leader of the Conservative opposition on Tower Hamlets Councils, says executive Mayors in local authorities have too much power

At the Olympic opening ceremony next July four of England’s directly elected Mayors will be in pride of place. As well as London’s Mayor there will be the three Executive Mayors for Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

One would expect to see civic leaders at such an event but one must ask why have these Mayors and the local authority chief executives, been given VIP passes with “access to all areas”. What event is going to require the Mayor of Tower Hamlets to be at the Velodrome in his £72 per day hired Mercedes, at 9am on a Monday morning? Why will these six be given privileged access to the final of the 100 metres, the most sought after event at the games?

The government, and Labour opposition, have decided that executive Mayors are the future model for local government. Having introduced this system for the London region, it has been duplicated for local authorities who have very different powers. An Executive Mayor can exercise virtually all decision making in a council, in the case of Tower Hamlets, down to deciding office moves and allocating £120,000 to refurbish an office suitable to receive “foreign dignitaries”.

Councillors need a two thirds majority to block or revise the Mayoral budget, apart from that they can decide planning and licensing applications and ask the Mayor to think again on policy. In Tower Hamlets, when the Mayor was invited to reconsider throwing £1.5million a year on his vanity newspaper, he simply rejected the request, it took literally ten seconds of his time. At the last full council meeting Mayor Lutfur Rahman sat for three hours, smirked at the opposition and said not a single work.

Latest polling shows Boris leading Ken Livingstone 48% to 41%

By Matthew Barrett
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The latest poll by YouGov, released today (full PDF here) is encouraging for Boris Johnson. The Mayor leads Labour candidate Ken Livingstone by 48% to 41%. 

This is compared to Ken leading Boris 45% to 42% in February of this year, and a tight lead for Boris (46%-44%) in October last year. 

Interestingly, Boris leads Ken 30% to 29% amongst 18-24 year-olds - rarely a Conservative-friendly group. 

Worrying for the Livingstone campaign, only 63% of London Labour voters would vote for Ken if a London election were held tomorrow. 

Key facts about the 2011 local elections

By Matthew Barrett
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Yesterday Rob Hayward drew our attention to a House of Commons Library briefing paper, regarding the results of the local and mayoral elections in May. Summarised below are some key facts about the local elections contained in that briefing.

Conservative council seat facts:

• The Conservatives won or retained 5,108 seats, representing 58% of the total contested and a net gain of 85 seats
• The Conservatives have 9,400 councillors, 46% of the total councillors in Britain
• They control 51% of the total number of councils, including 96% of county councils and 69% of shire district councils
• They control two councils in Wales, but none of the 32 unitary authorities in Scotland
• In England, 51% of councillors are Conservative
• The Conservatives control 59% of seats in shire districts
• By contrast, in metropolitan boroughs, where one-third of seats were up for election, they won 22% of the seats
• They have no councillors on several metropolitan borough councils, including Gateshead, Knowsley, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sheffield

Not all Mayor Makings are equal

Andre Walker, a Local Government Advisor who has worked for five local authorities, has been on a tour of Mayor Making ceremonies

Its Mayor-Making season and I have been invited to several very enjoyable events. So imagine my surprise when last night a Councillor friend of mine decided to boycott his borough's event. He said he felt that Labour Greenwich’s offering was overly decadent given the current financial situation of the country.

I was appalled, what sort of a killjoy Councillor refuses to turn up to the most important event of the Civic year just because there is some free catering? How wrong my reaction really was. He explained that instead of using their historic Town Hall they had booked the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College.

Having been invited to dinner in the Painted Hall, I would agree with their marketing bumf which says its “probably the finest dining room in the world”. Whilst I have no doubt this event was great fun for everyone in attendance, it also cost £30,000.

Lancaster City Council had an £18-a-head dinner, which actually made a profit for the Mayor's Charity, whilst frugal Hammersmith and Fulham served a few well chosen but cheap bottles of wine.  Then some of the councillors went for a few pints in the pub across the road.

Localism bill will seek to control town hall pay, introduce elected mayors and give neighbourhoods control over planning

Tim Montgomerie

Eric Pickles' feisty approach to local government will take another step this week when he unveils his localism bill. The draft legislation will require councils to publish limits on management pay. He cannot impose a direct cap but he can impose transparency.

Pickles is concerned that 129 town hall executives earn more than £142,500; the Prime Minister's salary.

Mary Orton of the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives told The Observer that if the PM's salary was to be used as a guide she wondered about the free "add-ons" he received: "Most ordinary mortals have to pay for housing costs after tax. He gets two houses for free."

According to The Sunday Telegraph the bill will also see the end of Regional Development Agencies and moves to give twelve major cities directly-elected mayors. The cities are set to be:

1. Birmingham
2. Bradford
3. Bristol
4. Coventry
5. Leeds
6. Leicester
7. Liverpool
8. Manchester
9. Newcastle-upon-Tyne
10. Nottingham
11. Sheffield
12. Wakefield

Decentralisation minister Greg Clark previews the new power for neighbourhoods to take control of planning in their area. They will be able to decide the boundaries of their locality and then by local referenda choose a code for local building. Once this code was established residents would have freedom to add extra storeys to their homes or conservatories, loft conversions, front driveways and wind turbines.

Dr Clark comments:

"This Government has ambitious proposals to make the [planning] system fit to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Above all, we want to change the philosophy behind local planning. We want to move away from a system with significant elements of imposition from above, to one with participation and involvement at its heart – not just warm words, or a commitment in principle, but real opportunities for people to have a say. We also want to move away from a system that seeks to resolve the different needs of different groups at a local level by imposing choices from above, towards one which enables a mature debate at local level."