Referendum night-mayor
OXFORD STUDENTS ARE being asked to sign a petition calling for a referendum on whether the city should have a democratically elected mayor. Oxford City Council has decided that, from October, it should take the form of a cabinet, with a leader appointed by the council. Yet Demox, the Campaign for a Democratically Elected Mayor in Oxford, is trying to force the council to change its plans and instead hold a referendum, with one proposal being that of an elected mayor. The referendum will have to take place if 5100 people - five per cent of Oxford's electorate - sign the petition. The campaign has already gathered over 2000 signatures.
The controversy follows Government reforms, which mean that councils must change the way they are run by April 2002. The three options proposed are either a cabinet and a leader, a cabinet and an elected mayor or an elected mayor and a non-elected manager.
Stan Taylor, Chairman of Demox and a former Labour leader of the City Council, believes that "the head of the cabinet should be elected by the public at large because then they would be accountable to the people and they could be thrown out by them". Taylor also emphasised that an elected mayor would be more "independent", as he would have a separate mandate from the council.
The public is being consulted about the council's plans to introduce a system of cabinet and leader thorough the latest edition of the City Council's newspaper. Lord Mayor Cllr Maureen Christian was against the idea of an elected mayor. "I'm opposed to an elected mayor because I think it's too much power in one person's hands," she argued. "They are there for four years and you could get somebody who has popular appeal but doesn't turn out to be very good".
The initial aim of Demox is however to ensure people have the "choice" to vote in a referendum, whether they accepted the idea of an elected mayor or not. Students in Oxford colleges are receiving information about the campaign in their pigeon-holes and they can contact Demox through the campaign's university co-ordinator, Tony Sanderson.
17th May 2001