THE elected mayor will replace the traditional council leader and take charge of schools, care for the elderly, housing, roads and the environment.

He or she will appoint a Cabinet of about ten councillors, along with a deputy, who will probably each have specific portfolios, much as they do now.

The full council will have to ratify his major decisions, such as overall spending and the size of council tax, but the mayor will have full discretion on how most of the council's services are delivered. The non-Cabinet councillors will scrutinise and question the mayor's decisions - as they do now.

The big change in this system is that the public will directly be the judge of the new mayor's performance. At the next election - in three years' time, although subsequent periods of office will last four years - it is hoped they will return him to office if he has been a success, or remove him if he is perceived to have failed.

In Hartlepool, the mayor will earn £53,000 a year; in Middlesbrough £30,000.

The old mayor will remain, probably with a new title, retaining ceremonial duties, such as presiding over full council meetings and performing civic functions dressed in full regalia.

But the three North-East councils taking part in the voting on May 2 are very much guinea pigs. There are only four other councils - Watford, Doncaster, Lew-isham and Newham - taking this step into the unknown.

No one quite knows how the new role will settle down - or whether the Government will provide it with support to help it succeed.

Directly-elected mayors, based on a US model so successful with Rudy Giuliani in New York, were Tony Blair's favoured way of reinvigorating local government.

However, the poor turnouts and negative results in last year's referenda may have persuaded Mr Blair that forcing through directly-elected mayors was not such a good idea.

Turnouts in those referenda were about 30 per cent, with Sunderland recording a notable low of just ten per cent. In Mr Blair's own Sedgefield, 53 per cent of those who voted said no to the idea. In Sunderland, 57 per cent said no and in Durham City, 59 per cent rejected the plan.

In Hartlepool, 51 per cent voted for new-style mayors, with 58 per cent in North Tyneside. The biggest vote in favour in the country was in Middlesbrough, where 84 per cent backed the changes.

Here's how to vote

IN Middlesbrough and North Tyneside, there will be full postal ballots, with people receiving them from April 18.

They will have to be returned by May 2, although experience overseas suggests that most people return their postal votes within four days of having received them.

Hartlepool is using the more traditional polling booths on May 2, although postal ballots may be requested before April 24.

Contact the council on (01429) 266522 for more information.