There’s an article in the Lancashire Evening Post today about the prospect of an elected mayorship in Preston. The agenda being pushed by chief reporter Emma Broom is that residents of Preston are happy with the current arrangement and want to sweep this mayor concept under the carpet (see what I did there?).
In a statement of fact, it’s announced that 5% of the population must petition the council in order to trigger a referendum on the mayoral matter, but since nobody has approached the council since the Local Government Act in 2000 the council leader Ken Hudson has assumed that nobody wants it. But isn’t that like asking Peter Callow the same question and getting the same answer?
There’s little point in a trickle of people going to a council about this because 5% of the population are needed, so I think it’s fair to say that Mr Hudson isn’t going to see random people turning up on their own asking for an elected mayor.
Lancashire County Council may operate differently, but for me personally I am sick of the likes of Steve Weaver and Maxine Callow dodging the flak incurred by council cock ups. There’s no accountability and these clowns are allowed to continue with their creation of chaos. The string of planning disasters endorsed by Alan Cavill seems to have gone unpunished too. I’d have understood it if he was just another desk jockey, but compared to most people in Blackpool he’s a very high earner in a very important job.
It’s one of those things that people probably have an opinion on but it’s not clear how to do anything about it. It’s one thing to provide legislation opening the door for an elected mayor referendum but it’s quite another mobilising 5% of the population into signing a petition. People are apathetic and in a lot of cases don’t realise the shambles that are running their town.
Maybe next time the LEP will actually ask voters about it rather than drawing bogus conclusions from a council leader sound bite.
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Great comment Phil, I completely agree there is no accountability in Blackpool. Weaver gets £138k a year for nothing and serial pessimist Alan Cavill with no belief whatsoever in Blackpool gets a nearly as obscene salary, they are a waste of space. It sounds like a cover-up to me and seeing as Ken Hudson must be due to retire soon I bet he has his eye on being Mayor.
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138K a year???
OBSCENE!
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It is beyond obscene that such a useless jobsworth gets paid so much but that is nothing compared to the even more obscene amount of money useless Preston-loving NWDA chief Steve Broomhead, he gets about £171k nearly as much as the PM, that is just unacceptable. The NWDA is a waste of money and if the Conservatives want to scrap it then good, it should be replaced with a more efficient cost-effective system.
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lets hope the tories do, and put him and his cronies in a HUGE dustbin.
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I complete agree with having an elected Mayor in Blackpool. The current system is just a back-slapping exercise for long-serving councillors where they appear in the Gazette and cut ribbons for a year. We need a Mayor with administrative powers who is not linked to a political party. My only argument against is that, that muppet Hamish would try and stand, god help us!!!
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You’ve mentioned that name again TB, go and wash your mouth out
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I’m sorry, I can’t help it, its like tourettes it just comes out everytime I feel like a rant!!!
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Hamish can stand TB, but he will fall, as those with extreme delusional disorders only constitute 1% of the elctorate.
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Precisely The Errant Moons… it just makes me laugh how he thinks he is some kind of local hero, he is a joke.
BLACKPOOL FOR ELECTED MAYOR 2010!!!
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He is an insult to retarded plankton educated under a Labour government;a political Jonah, a perforated condomn on an iradiated eunuch.
He is to be ridiculed more than despised.
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