A REFERENDUM may be held in Sunderland to see if residents want an elected mayor.
The poll will take place sometime next year if 11,000 people - five per cent of the electorate - petition for it.
The American-style mayors were proposed by the Government as part of its drive to modernise local government.
A mail shot will be sent to every home in the city asking whether people want a referendum on the issue.
The council's Labour leader Colin Anderson said: "I don't know what the consultation is going to throw up and we may have people going out and organising a petition for a referendum.
"We will hold a referendum unless people give us a clear indication that they don't want one."
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