Another massive ‘NO’ vote to “an elected mayor” in an English borough Contextually looking back at the Gloucester referendum 2001
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we believe that local
Government must further empower residents to hold it to account and deliver better, more
personalized services. Alongside enhanced scrutiny powers for councillors, we are
introducing petitioning powers for local residents to demand action
"
The above quote is from the 2010 manifesto of the UK "Labour Party' published in April 2010
[Other Parties' manifesto texts will be contextually quoted in due course]
CHELTENHAM RESIDENTS SAY NO TO ELECTED MAYOR
3 July, 2001
Local residents have voted no to a directly elected mayor in Cheltenham BC's referendum. ...
Local residents have voted no to a directly elected mayor in Cheltenham BC's referendum.
The results are:
Yes: 8,083
No: 16,602
The council will now have an executive structure of a leader and cabinet selected from the existing councillors. The new structure will be operational in October.
It also means that the civic mayor will continue. Officers will now redraft the constitution to reflect the decision. It will include how we will form the overview, scrutiny and area committees.
Duncan Smith, deputy leader of the council, said: 'The people of Cheltenham have chosen to retain their civic mayor, and to have a leader and cabinet. We now have to work with the new constitution to make sure that it delivers the improvement in local services that we are seeking.
'The intention of the governments legislation is to improve democracy and participation in local elections. Having voted for this change, I hope that we will see more interest in the affairs of the borough council and that this will be reflected in an increased turnout at elections next year.'
Cheltenham BC is one of the first councils in the country to hold a referendum for an elected mayor. The consultation carried out by the council had not been conclusive. The only real way to test opinion was to hold a binding referendum. Other councils will be looking towards the results in Cheltenham and Gloucester to see if there is public support for an elected mayor.
Clive Lloyd, mayor of Cheltenham, said: 'I am delighted that the civic role has been retained. I will be honoured to continue to serve the borough and residents of Cheltenham.'
The turnout in the referendum was approximately 31 per cent. This is disappointing considering it was a full postal ballot. The council hopes the new structure will encourage local residents to become more involved in the work of the council by including more public question time, consultation and scrutiny of decisions.
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