Elected Mayors?

Would you prefer a Leader or Mayor to run Epping Forest District Council? Councillors would like to know your views before choosing one of two options later this year. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 all councils with a Leader and Cabinet have to consult on executive arrangements.

To give your views, go to the Council webpage

According to recent press reports, Robin Tilbrook (English Democrats) plans to collect signatures for petitions for referenda for elected mayors in parts of Essex, including Epping Forest District. This exercise is entirely separate from the Council consultation – a referendum is not needed if the Council decide to change to a Mayoral system.

LRA can see both advantages and disadvantages in a mayoral system, but we would need convincing that the change would be worthwhile.

By end-October 2010, less than 100 people had responded to the District Council, suggesting that local residents do not find the proposal particularly interesting or worthwhile.  The deadline for responding is November 16th 2010.

The Present Constitution
 Currently the District Council is operating a Leader & Cabinet Executive. The law requires that consultation with the public takes place to ratify that this will continue. This has to be achieved by 31 December 2010. Any consultation would have to take account that this is the only "fallback" position if a mayoral referendum/petition does not succeed. There are now only two executive options: Mayor and Cabinet or Leader and Cabinet. The County Council also operates a Leader & Cabinet Executive.

The main difference
The main difference in the options is how the head of the council is elected. Under the current system of Leader and Cabinet, the Leader is appointed by councillors. A Mayor would be directly elected by residents of the District. Other councillors are able to remove the Leader from office whereas a Mayor could only be removed by residents at elections every four years, unless they resign or become disqualified. More

The Petition
The number of signatories required is approximately 4,900. If the petition is validated (that is, the signatures relate to voters on the electoral register and everything else in order), the petition is binding and the Council concerned is obliged to hold a referendum.

Mr Tillbrook will be seeking to raise a mayoral petition in respect of Essex County Council as well as Epping Forest District Council. 

A referendum is not an election. It would give residents the chance to say which system of local government they want. If they voted in favour of the Mayoral system, the Council would then hold a subsequent election where everyone could vote for their preferred candidate.

Cost of referendum
The cost of a mayoral referendum is estimated at £160,000 for this district. If this were to be combined with a referendum for an Essex County Council mayor, this cost would reduce by 50%. These costs would fall in the 2011/12 financial year. However, costs may be incurred if the current year in terms of checking and validating the petition and public notices. This checking work will depend on how long that process actually takes. Checking 4,900 signatures etc is unlikely to be a quick job. This may mean hiring additional temporary staff or re-directing existing staff to this task. It is clear that work on the petition must not disrupt work on the electoral register or work on preparations for the elections/national referendum in May 2011, which will be going on at the same time.

It is important at the present time to think hard before spending money on new ventures. Council Tax is frozen and Government grants reducing, with inflation likely to "spike" because VAT will go up to 20% on 01/01/11, and services are being cut.
One way of looking at this is to ask oneself which service will you cut to raise the £160,000 (or £80,000) needed for a mayoral referendum, and which will you defer because Council staff are diverted to this process instead of doing their normal jobs?