An Elected Mayor for Charnwood?

What do you think about the campaign for an elected Mayor for Charnwood?

"Personally as the MP and as a local resident I don't support the idea of an Elected Mayor for Charnwood for a number of practical reasons. I personally thought the campaign launched by Les was a joke and for fun - and I remain to be convinced otherwise about the seriousness of his candidacy. I have visited his website to see what he believes in - and there is nothing concrete or practical he has to offer.

I agree with the principle of Elected Mayors in some circumstances. So much so that I voted for the legislation that allows for this debate to be taking place at all! So I am not a die hard opponent. I have thought through the consequences locally ever since we introduced the change in local government format. I always thought cabinet government was the best form of settlement for a disparate Borough like Charnwood. In large cities with multiple Boroughs - like London for example, the strong strategic direction offered by Ken Livingstone has been a success. In other palces the picture is mixed - with some successes and some not so great. However, the supporters of the concept locally didn't seem to even recognise that the Borough is the whole of Charnwood and not just the town of Loughborough. As somebody who lives in a village I would be worried that only at the last minute has Les even realised it's not just about Loughborough. When I lived in Birstall I knew only too well how hard it was to get our voice heard in Loughborough. I suspect most villages still feel the same - but at least they have locally elected Borough Councillors who stand up for their interests in the Council chamber.

Furthermore, there is a world of difference between not liking some things about Loughborough (mainly in hindsight) and thinking one person could make much difference. Indeed I personally find it slightly arrogant that one individual thinks they know best for the whole of the Borough. I know after 20 years of experience of local government and representation that the picture is usually much more complex and there are always a wider range of views than those expressed by those who get worked up by some issues. Especially as I have no idea what he stands for or against. Nobody has really demonstrated in the debate so far that anybody else would do anything massively different. It is fairly easy to jump on bandwagons in the newspapers for example like the Rushes. But what was the alternative - still having a 1970s concrete mess of a bus station which nobody used and a dangerous ugly car park? People can sign petitions for a bus station but do they want to find £3million from their council tax to pay for it? These are tough and real decisions. His ideas on shopping in the town are niaive at best - and this really worries me. Look at footfall in the town centre. Yes Loughborough is different to Leicester & Nottingham but it has to compete with these too to get people coming. Big High Stree chains like Next are vital - just as vital as the mix he wants to retain.

I personally quite like Les. He is a pretty good comedian & compare. But that does not mean I want him running our local affairs. I want to see the Borough tackling climate change - and I don't have much confidence that somebody who has driven around in an old dirty petrol hungry Rolls Royce is best placed to take this agenda seriously. If he is so sure of his ability to do things differently he should learn by getting himself elected to the council and put forward costed, worked out alternatives. Then we would see what difference he could make. We could then judge him and his ability. But until then as a local resident I fear my Borough Council run by a comedian/small businessman single handed. I have no personal confidence in his abilities to do a good job whatsoever. Indeed I fear for us all that he has so few ideas and no experience that we will be all over the place and will lose out. If there was a serious contender things may look different, but as it stands there is no serious choice. If anybody thinks they can do a better job than their lcoal councillor - then why not put themselves forward - at election time.

I am not as strongly opposed as many councillors to the basic concept of an elected Mayor. I don't think it would work in Charnwood and this whole thing is a waste of time and will be a very expensive waste of money for us locally too. I don't want to see £200,000 wasted on a referendum and vote for a Mayor as a taxpayer. There are elections in 2007. If he is so sure about himself he could always stand and see where that gets him without wasting my council tax money on this personal folly."

2005