BIRMINGHAM and Coventry are to have referendums on whether the cities should be run by powerful elected mayors, it has been confirmed.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has published its Decentralisation and Localism Bill, confirming long-running speculation that the two cities are among a list of 12 to ask its residents whether they want elected mayors.
Existing council leaders – Cllr Mike Whitby in Birmingham and Cllr John Mutton in Coventry – would become ‘shadow mayors’ in May next year with the same powers available to existing council mayors outside London.
A referendum will be held in May 2012 as part of the local elections process for that year and, in cities which receive a ‘yes’ vote by simple majority, the mayoral elections will take place in 2013.
Mayors will be in the post for four-year stints while cities voting against the plans will revert back to the leader and cabinet system.
The exact powers which will be given to the mayors are yet to be decided but the DCLG does state they should be given “the status and power to make their city a success”.
Cllr Mutton said: “I think people want decent public services and a democratic way of affecting change. I believe the current system already provides that and it is difficult to see how an elected mayoral system improves it.
“In the coming weeks we, as a council, will be discussing this in greater detail to decide how we will approach this and the other aspects of the Localism Bill.”
Cllr Whitby has long been an opponent of the city mayor system which lasted just under seven years in Stoke-on-Trent and was dogged by controversy.
The other cities affected by the bill are Bradford, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield.
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