Bristol’s economy and status would receive a timely boost if it introduced an elected mayor this year, according to a leading academic in local government.
Professor Robin Hambleton, professor of City Leadership at the University of the West of England (UWE), said elected mayors have proved successful all over the world – from Chicago and Auckland to London.
Bristolians will vote on May 3 in a referendum to decide whether or not the city should have an elected mayor.
Bristol is one of 12 core UK cities which can decide on the issue under the Government’s Localism Act.
Speaking at a debate staged by the Bristol Junior Chamber, Prof Hambleton, who is also co-editor of a new academic study Governing Cities in a Global Era, said it was undeniable that an elected mayor was a way to increase a city’s visibility, giving it a strategic focus.
“A mayor enhances partnership working, resolving any differences between various groups, and provides stable leadership for at least four years,” he said.
“The role can also attract new people into local politics and because he or she has legitimacy through having been elected by everyone, they can embark on some controversial and often very successful decision-making.”
The Mayor of London’s basic powers focused on transport, strategic/spatial planning, and economic development, so lifting the economic profile of the city.
But other cities would be able to negotiate the powers of the mayor with central Government, he said.
Britain was one of the most centralised states in the Western world so it is important to grasp the elected mayor opportunity to try and reverse that tendency and restore real powers to localities, and especially to core cities, he added.
Prof Hambleton also addressed possible concerns, including the cost, that the mayor might be just a celebrity with no real gravitas, that a mayor should be for the whole West of England, not just the area covered by Bristol City Council, and that there was “a vulnerability for corruption”.
The elected mayor would undoubtedly attract considerable inward investment, he argued, while a little-used power of recall exists to dismiss a mayor if his or her conduct becomes a concern.
Christina Zaba from the Mayor for Bristol campaign urged Junior Chamber members to find out more, get involved, support the campaign with their business expertise, and above all to vote yes on May 3.
She said an elected mayor would benefit Bristol business, and noted that if the city did not vote for an elected mayor, it could be eclipsed by other cities which did.
An elected mayor would work in collaboration with the existing Local Enterprise Partnership and city council, which would pay his or her salary.
She pointed out that earlier this week Liverpool had announced it was skipping a referendum on the issue and going straight to a mayoral election on May 3.
As a result the city has been promised £130m by central government.
Liverpool is aiming to launch five mayoral development zones with an environmental technology zone hoping to attract the Government’s new Green Investment Bank – which Bristol is also competing for.
Liverpool expects its new mayoral scheme could attract an additional £1bn to the city.
If the result of Bristol’s May 3 referendum is a ‘yes’, Bristol’s mayoral election will take place in November.
Bristol Business News supports the Mayor for Bristol campaign Follow it on Twitter @bristolmayor and at www.bristolmayor.org
A free public debate, Should Bristol have an Elected Mayor?’ takes place at the Council House, College Green, on February 22 from 7-9pm.
Register at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/public-engagement/events/2012/68.html
