Elected Mayor Petition Options

[dannyboy]

With the mayor being accountable directly to every individual in West Berkshire, I believe so. It needn't have cost anything, but Graham Jones imposed his personal opinion on everyone.

I don't see it.

Any body as large as WBC is bound to have 'crisis' after 'crisis'. Having a Mayor won't change a thing.

Even if we had you as Mayor & a Labour council, nothing would change.

[Richard Garvie]

First of all, you are just presuming that I would want to be mayor. But what I will say is that things would be different under a Labour leader (whichever model was being used) on the basis that we have put pledges in our manifesto to set out exactly what we would do differently and how we would do it. And it's not a Nick Clegg pledge either!!!

As for the mayoral system, would Graham Jones have axed the Ormonde Centre or Hillcroft House if we was accountable to the wider electorate? He would personally be seeking out the person responsible for the CCTV issue, otherwise it would be him who takes the flack. A full time leader will that is directly accountable to the public will only be positive for the District.

[user23]

Had it been a fair consultation, there would be no need for a referendum.

What you mean is, had they chose the option you wanted there would be no need for a referendum.

Again, how much will this cost taxpayers?

I don't see it.

Any body as large as WBC is bound to have 'crisis' after 'crisis'. Having a Mayor won't change a thing.

Even if we had you as Mayor & a Labour council, nothing would change.

The difference is, with an elected mayor there's a (rather expensive) scapegoat to blame it all on.

[Richard Garvie]

What you mean is, had they chose the option you wanted there would be no need for a referendum.

Not at all. Had the consultation been advertised properly and had all available options been considered, then fine. West Berks Strategic Partnership had their comment excluded as it involved the mayor option, which at the start of the document had been excluded because "it risks introducing the possibility of personality into local politics".

I don't know the exact cost, but whatever it does cost would have been avoided if the mayor option had not been excluded from the consultation.

[user23]

Not at all. Had the consultation been advertised properly and had all available options been considered, then fine. West Berks Strategic Partnership had their comment excluded as it involved the mayor option, which at the start of the document had been excluded because "it risks introducing the possibility of personality into local politics".

I don't know the exact cost, but whatever it does cost would have been avoided if the mayor option had not been excluded from the consultation.

How much is it going to cost?

[Richard Garvie]

As you can see by the text you have quoted, I don't know the full cost. But it would have cost nothing if the consultation hadn't of been fudged.

[user23]

As you can see by the text you have quoted, I don't know the full cost. But it would have cost nothing if the consultation hadn't of been fudged.

Come on, you must have a rough idea.

You're not daft enough to have proposed this without taxpayers in mind, are you?

[JeffG]

Electing a mayor would ensure more transparency and more accountability

How, exactly? What is the difference between a (insert party of your choice) elected Mayor and the majority leader of the (same party) council? Because an elected Mayor is more than likely going to be the same party as the largest party on the council. And therefore have the same mindset.

There are those who think that party politics has no place outside national government in any case. Local decisions should be made by an apolitical committee to benefit the local community, not party dogma.

[Richard Garvie]

The elected mayor option allows the possibility of an independent mayor who can then appoint whoever he or she likes in the cabinet. Also, some wards have a very small population and some are very big in comparison, so rather than being about the number of seats a party will win, it will be decided on total votes. The only difference to the two leadership models is that one of them allows the wider public to elect the leader in addition to the wards councillors. The arguments for and against a mayor will be made nearer the referendum date of required, the petition will simply call for a referendum to allow the public to be given the choice. If the referendum goes ahead, the public will have to decide based on the facts available to them. On the timetable that is enforced by local government, we are looking at an August referendum should it go ahead.

User 23, the fact is this would have been avoided if the consultation was fair. If the council had acted properly, the referendum might not have been needed, but we'll never know because the council (yet again) acted in a dishonest way.

[user23]

User 23, the fact is this would have been avoided if the consultation was fair. If the council had acted properly, the referendum might not have been needed, but we'll never know because the council (yet again) acted in a dishonest way.

Fair = Reached the conclusion you wanted.

Why won't you tell people how much this will cost taxpayers?

It's because if people know the cost they wouldn't vote for it, isn't it?

[Richard Garvie]

Based on the population, it could cost around £25,000 from having a quick look at some of the examples. Almost 20% of the signatures required have been collected in the first couple of days, that is the level of support for this scheme. Once again, if the council consultation had been conducted to include all available options, there would be no need for a referendum.

[dannyboy]

who can then appoint whoever he or she likes in the cabinet

LOL, that is democracy is it? It is what we have now!

[kellsbells]

iS IT FAIR THAT SUPPOSEDLY APOLITICAL COUNCIL OFFICER pHIL rUMENS IS POSTING ON THIS FORUM AS User23? aREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE IMPARTIAL pHIL?

[Richard Garvie]

who can then appoint whoever he or she likes in the cabinet

LOL, that is democracy is it? It is what we have now!

No it isn't, and to claim otherwise is absurd. We don't pick the leader at the moment, and if we did Graham Jones would not have slashed public services so quickly. What we need is leadership that acts on the wishes of the electorate, and that is identifying waste and protecting key services.

[user23]

No it isn't, and to claim otherwise is absurd. We don't pick the leader at the moment, and if we did Graham Jones would not have slashed public services so quickly. What we need is leadership that acts on the wishes of the electorate, and that is identifying waste and protecting key services.

We don't pick the leader of the country either.

Do you think we should have an elected president? It all sounds a bit American to me.

[NWNREADER]

A lot af waffle has been spouted by politicians in recent years about the strength of 'democratic decisions', 'democratically elected' leaders and the like.
The weakness with democracy is the majority ain't always right..............


Especially so when the cult of personality means smoke and mirrors and a good make-up artist can make a chancer into a winner.

[dannyboy]

No it isn't, and to claim otherwise is absurd. We don't pick the leader at the moment, and if we did Graham Jones would not have slashed public services so quickly. What we need is leadership that acts on the wishes of the electorate, and that is identifying waste and protecting key services.

So, a leader once in acts on the wishes of the electorate do they?

Utopia was nothing more than a book.

[TallDarkAndHands...]

Chance of a referendum on Europe / Human Rights Act / Death Penalty under a Labour Governmnent = Zero.

So why should we even consider a referendum on such a waste of time as a Newbury Mayor.
Quite unbelieveable this Mr Garvie...

[Iommi]

The weakness with democracy is the majority ain't always right..............

Chance of a referendum on Europe / Human Rights Act / Death Penalty under a Labour Governmnent = Zero.

Hear, hear.

[Richard Garvie]

Chance of a referendum on Europe / Human Rights Act / Death Penalty under a Labour Governmnent = Zero.

I don't have any control or say on those issues. I agree with you though, rather than side stepping important issues such as these and immigration, Gordon Brown bottled it and as a result lost the general election. I would never joined Labour under Brown, and I don't know why his government is even relvant now? It's like bringing up certain things than John Major did!!!

The referendum about an elected mayor who will lead West Berkshire will allow the public to decide on the leadership model. There is strong local support, yet the current conservative administration fixed the leadership model consultation preventing any honest debate. Hardly democratic, is it? An elected mayor for West Berkshire isn't a manifesto pledge or is it top priority for the party here in West Berkshire. But we believe there is significant local support for the option, and all of these people were unable to have their say in the consultation. I asked the leader of the council to delay the adoption of strong leader so that these people could have their say, but he refused. The consultation may have shown there was not enough support if it was done correctly, and we would not need to go down this route.

What is important is that the people get to have their say, in an open and transparent process. Under the cionservatives lately, it would appear that very little is transparent. Remember CCTV? Remember affordable housing commitments? Remember day care centre closures and wild cuts to the youth service provision? Unfortunately, none of those issues can be challenged, but the leadership model is one decision that can be challenged due to legislation, allowing the public to have their say. It's just a shame that the leader of the council ignored everyone who requested an open consultation on the matter, including the West Berks Strategic Partnership.