THE appointment of an elected mayor in Darlington could be one of the biggest changes to the council in its history. As the town prepares for the referendum later this month, DAVID ROBERTS answers some of the questions surrounding the issue.

Q -What is Darlington's current political set-up?

A- Darlington Borough Council follows a leader and cabinet model. Under this system, the 53 elected councillors choose a leader from amongst themselves and the leader is appointed annually. In Darlington, as the Labour group has a majority, the opposition councillors choose not to contest the appointment of Labour group leader Coun John Williams as leader.

The council also chooses the eight people for cabinet, although this is done on the recommendation of the leader. In Darlington this consists of Labour councillors and once again the opposition councillors do not contest their appointment.

Scrutiny committees made up of all parties who are not in the cabinet examine the decisions made by the cabinet. They can 'call them in' to stop the decision taking immediate effect. They can also make recommendations about the decision to improve it, but the cabinet does not have to implement the recommendations..

Q - What powers does the current council leader have?

A - The leader is the spokesman for the council and represents the council on a number of outside bodies such as Tees Valley partnership and the North-East Assembly . He also takes responsibility for the overall strategy and budget preparation. Some decisions are made by the leader together with the cabinet.

Q - Why are we now being asked whether we want an elected mayor?

A - A group of disaffected residents unhappy with a number of recent decisions made by the council began collecting names for a petition. They had to collect approximately 4,000 names - five per cent of the electorate - to trigger the referendum. Although they fell 79 signatures short of the required amount, the council agreed that there was enough public interest to hold the vote.

Q - How would an elected mayor be appointed?

A - The elected mayor would be voted in directly by the electorate of Darlington, every four years. A handful of candidates would be put forward and voters would choose the individual they thought best suited to lead the council.

Q - What powers would an elected mayor have?

A - As well as being spokesperson for the council and taking responsibility for overall strategy and budget preparation, the mayor would appoint the cabinet and appoint councillors to portfolios. The mayor can also make decisions individually, or with the cabinet, and make delegation decisions individually. He would also appoint the deputy mayor. It is hoped that a directly-elected mayor would provide powerful, charismatic leadership and the electorate would be able to hold him personally responsible for the successes and failures of his term of his office. He would also come to symbolise and represent the town in the way that a council leader cannot.

Q - How would the council challenge decisions made by the mayor?

A - Under the current system if the council wants to amend a budget or policy made by the leader and cabinet, it can refer it back to the cabinet. If the cabinet rejects the amendment, the council can pass it on a simple majority. However, under the mayoral system a two-thirds majority would be needed to make any amendments.

Q - What would happen to the ceremonial mayor?

Q - The elected mayor is unable to chair meetings of the council, so that duty will fall on a 'chairman' or 'First Citizen'. Because of pressures of time it is recommended that the ceremonial duties carried out by the ceremonial mayor are not transferred to the elected mayor and it is likely they would fall to the chairman.

Therefore, a position similar to the ceremonial mayor would remain, but with a different name.

Q - Would it be possible for an elected mayor to 'buy' their way into office?

A - All candidates for an elected mayor would be restricted to election expenses of £2,000 plus 5p for every elector. There are approximately 80,000 electors in the borough.

Q - How much is the referendum costing?

A - The council has agreed a budget of £145,000 for the referendum and the consultation process which took place before it.

Q - How are the 'Yes' and 'No' campaigns being funded?

A - Neither campaign is being funded from the public purse or from political parties. They are relying solely on individual donations.

Q - Would it be possible to revert back to the current system if an elected mayor is not popular?

A - Currently, if a directly-elected mayor proves unpopular, the council, and not the electorate, can decide to hold a referendum to determine whether to revert back to the old system after five years. However, legislation is being introduced in October to extend the minimum amount of time to 10 years. Should the referendum vote in favour of an elected mayor, the provisional date for an election would be in May 2008. Therefore it would be 10 years before any changes could be made in Darlington.

Q - Who can stand for elected mayor?

A - Anyone aged over 18 who is a registered elector or has lived, worked, owned or rented property in Darlington for the last 12 months.

Q - How much will the elected mayor get paid?

A - Most elected mayors from around the country get a salary of between £50,000 and £80,000 a year. Coun John Williams' total allowance is £29,386.

Q - Who is likely to stand for an elected mayor?

A - Should the referendum vote in favour of an elected mayor, the three main political parties can be expected to put forth candidates. In the majority of councils which have an elected mayor, he or she has at some point in their career been a leader of the council. However, independent candidates have also won. Most notably in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool where, respectively, former detective Ray Mallon and football team mascot Stuart Drummond won the elections.