ELECTED MAYOR

I WAS bemused by the support by Mike Barker, of Darlington Liberal Democrats, for the current "traditional" form of local government (HAS, Page 11, Sept 17).

In May, we saw a party coming second in the popular vote in the borough of Darlington, yet returning only five councillors. This is just the kind of injustice the LibDems have been fighting against nationally over many years in their pursuit of proportional representation (PR).

If a PR system was put in place for local elections in England, much of the justifiable criticism of the current system would be addressed.

However, PR is not an option at present. Instead, we face a referendum for an elected mayor. While this would put a great deal of power into one person's hands, it would at least make that individual responsible to the whole of the borough's electorate.

I do agree with Mr Barker on the importance of voting at the referendum. This is a hugely important decision which will affect the borough for years to come, and not a decision to be taken lightly.

On balance, I believe an elected mayor will offer a level of accountability sadly lacking for too long. I shall be voting "yes". - Ian Holme, Hurworth.

TRYING to understand why some people want an elected mayor for Darlington, I can only come to one conclusion - they wish to emasculate the authority of the properly elected council - and I would say the same if we had a Conservative-controlled council.

It would be nice if those who want an elected mayor came clean about their political affiliations.

I cannot imagine many Labour voters opting for an elected mayor and the Liberal Democrats seem to be opposed in principle.

So that leaves the Tories, and it would be nice if they came clean and say it is a means to usurping the authority of the democratically-elected council, but this could be a two-edged sword so they would be advised to leave well alone.

Independents are fairly thin on the ground and they invariably represent only themselves and a few others and, when it comes to the crunch, tend to come down on the side of a major party.

A truly independent mayor could incur the wrath of all the major parties and what would that do for the smooth-running of council affairs?

It could open a Pandora's Box with dire consequences for the tax payers. Vote "No" in the referendum. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

I HAVE watched the elected mayor debate unfold with interest, but have not made my mind up.

What I want to know is will the elected mayor bring about the changes I want to see in the way the council responds to the people and allows the people of this borough a say in matters which affect them, or will the current structure of leader and cabinet bring about these changes?

This seems to have got lost in the fog of battle.

We must have change. People - all of them, not just small unrepresentative groups - must have a voice in the issues which affect them, such as where their child goes to school; having confidence that that school will provide the education and preparation for life to enable that child to compete for jobs in the global market place and not be unemployed; and having a council tax level which does not fleece the hard-working or the elderly.

This referendum should be about change and making things better.

If the elected mayor becomes old wine in new bottles, or if the "No" people win and the council goes back to its bad old ways, it will be unacceptable and people will continue to be disengaged and cynical of government. - Alan Macnab, Darlington.

IN a letter I received from Alan Charlton, chairman of the Say No to an Elected Mayor campaign, he refers to the borough of Newham, London, which pays its elected mayor £76,000. What has that got to do with Darlington?

Having an independently-minded elected mayor without left-wing political baggage would allow him/her to concentrate their efforts on what's best for the town.

Darlington Borough Council's chief executive receives approximately £150,000pa; if elected, the mayor will receive one-third of this.

As a retired businessman, Mr Charlton should know that real talent is expensive. Darlington deserves the best. A mayor with energy, organisation and communication skills, willing to listen, will turn Darlington around in double-quick time.

Darlington's annual budget is approximately £175m, much of which is wasted now on projects that do nothing to improve the lives of Darlingtonians.

Paying a mayor will not increase that budget. It will stop the waste, thereby improving the environment for all who live here.

The scaremongering continues when Mr Charlton states that the ceremonial mayor will be condemned to the dustbin of history.

This is not true. The Northern Echo (Page 10, Sept 13) clearly states that a position similar to the ceremonial mayor would remain. - PJ Jones, Darlington.

RECENT leaflets from supporters of the campaign for an elected mayor for Darlington are simply an attack upon the existing council's failure to listen to the electorate.

I agree that the council has often failed to listen or, in the case of the Tesco proposal, only listened late in the day, after it was forced to.

But how might an elected mayor differ?

A mayor will not even need to gain the support of a cabinet of elected councillors, let alone the electorate as a whole, before making these kind of decisions.

This seems less democratic to me than the existing system.

We may, in fact, be stuck with a tyrant for several years with none of the checks and balances of the current arrangements.

The "Yes" campaign argues that an elected mayor will listen or be voted out of office, but why hasn't the council been voted out for not listening?

There were three models of decision-making in ancient Greece, from where our ideas on democracy emerge. Autocracy, or the rule of a tyrant; oligarchy, or rule by the few (a cabinet?); or democracy - rule by the people. I know into which category I would place an elected mayor. - Martin Wood, Darlington.

WHILE not a great supporter of the present cabinet system, I have yet to be convinced that an elected mayor would add to the quality of democracy in Darlington, as I think it would downgrade our councillors even further. To learn more, I shall attend The Northern Echo Question Time-style event on Friday (7.30pm) at the Arts Centre, and urge others to do likewise. - Linda Chadd, Darlington.