Tag: Elected mayors

Policy unpacked #6 – Talking mayors at #pp2014

Earlier this week Bristol hosted the Policy & Politics Conference 2014. The conference theme was the challenges of leadership and collaboration in the 21st century. The conference examined governance structures at different spatial scales, but there was much talk about urban governance. http://www.alexsarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/PolicyunpackedNo6.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | […]

Policy Unpacked #1 – Mad about mayors

In 2012 Elected mayors were very much on the political agenda in England. But after the largely negative outcome of last year’s referendums there was a debate over whether mayors are now off the agenda again. However, in 2013 the debate about mayoral governance seems to be as […]

George Ferguson’s Vision for Bristol: A response

Last night George Ferguson gave his first Mayoral State of the City address in the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building. This launched both the Mayor’s Vision for Bristol and the consultation on the local authority budget. Following the Mayor’s presentation there were brief responses from Alexandra […]

Towards a global parliament of mayors?

How should a world characterised by increasingly complex interdependence be governed? If most of the major challenges we face have no respect for the artificial borders marking out nation states, how can we identify and deliver effective solutions? The answer Benjamin Barber offered in his stimulating presentation at the Bristol Festival […]

On local governance and elected mayors

On Friday we published a report on the prospects for an elected mayor in Bristol. It is the first report from the Bristol Civic Leadership Project. The prospects report was based primarily on views collected from around Bristol prior to the mayoral election in November. It drew on […]

The future of local democracy

Participation in representative democratic processes at local level is on the wane. Not just in Britain but in several other western democracies. There is plenty of cause to reflect on why that might be, and what might be done about it. How can more local people become engaged […]

Bristol votes for an elected mayor

[Originally posted on LSE British Politics and Policy, 08/05/12] Bristol is unique. Those of us who live here are, of course, already aware of this. But the city’s less conventional approach to life attracted broader attention when it alone voted yes in last Thursday’s Mayoral referendum. Stuart Wilks-Heeg […]

Why an Elected Mayor is a bad idea

On Wednesday 2nd May we are holding a couple of last minute briefings on the arguments for and against a Directly Elected Mayor for Bristol. For the purposes of the debate I am giving arguments against the move to a Mayor. For the avoidance of doubt, that doesn’t […]

A last minute briefing on #bristolmayor

The debate over the desirability or otherwise of an Elected Mayor for Bristol is hotting up. Candidates for the role are now beginning to declare themselves, should the citizens of Bristol vote to move to the mayoral model. Events to discuss the issues are now occurring pretty much […]

The Elected Mayor solution

Elected Mayors are, apparently, the answer for our big cities. The Coalition has decreed that on 3rd May the citizens of Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Wakefield be invited to participate in a referendum. The choice is whether they stick with the […]