ANTI-CONGESTION charge campaigners have forced the first referendum for an elected mayor in Greater Manchester. Is it a cheap trick or valid exercise in local decision making? 

Whether it's a cynical trick or a genuine attempt to restore the will of the people, you've got to hand it to the protesters from Manchester Against the Road Tolls for the latest twist in their campaign.

The group wanted the political chiefs supporting congestion charging to seek support from the people of Greater Manchester in a public referendum.

When the answer was a stern `no' - although a congestion charge referendum could still happen - M.A.R.T. members' idea was to put the Local Government Act of 2000 to use by urging the people of one of the local councils within the 10-strong group which makes up the Association Of Greater Manchester Authorities, the body bidding for public transport improvements in return for congestion charging, to call for an elected mayor.

If that works, the next step of M.A.R.T.'s campaign will see them support the election of a mayor who would in turn support their stance that congestion charging is nothing more than a `toll tax'.

While that might sound far-fetched, M.A.R.T. have already won the first stage of their battle by securing a mayoral referendum in Bury. Inspired by that success, they are now campaigning to do the same thing in Salford and Bolton.

In order to force a referendum on the issue of an elected mayor in each local authority, campaigners need the signatures of at least five per cent of a borough's electorate.

M.A.R.T. members went a stage further in Bury, collecting 8,500 signatures, and the local council must now poll the opinions of the borough's entire population within six months.

Campaign co-ordinator Sean Corker says the ultimate aim is that the people of Bury will be given the opportunity to have their say on the issue of congestion charging, albeit via the somewhat scenic route of a mayoral election.

Manpower

"We simply don't have the manpower to seek support for elected mayors across all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester," Corker concedes, "but this could just be enough. We have masses of support now, but this literally started as a few guys in the pub who were opposed to congestion charging and felt that the vast majority of people would support that view."

Is he not worried M.A.R.T.'s campaign could cause chaos for local government if it succeeds in giving power to a candidate with only one issue in mind?

"What we are doing is not some cheap trick," says Corker. "It's just democracy."

To date there have been 35 referenda on whether to establish an elected mayor in English local authorities. Twelve have been passed and 23 rejected by voters.

One man who originally set out to make a monkey of the electoral mayor campaign was Stuart Drummond.

He won in Hartlepool after campaigning in the costume of H'Angus the Hartlepool United monkey mascot.

Drummond, a former call centre worker, says he initially sought election as a way of increasing publicity for H'Angus. But it wasn't long before he swapped the monkey suit for a lounge suit and he was recently re-elected with a massively increased majority.

Hartlepool now ranks as one of the country's best-performing authorities and Drummond is adamant that his independent position has been key to that achievement.

"If the referendum is positive and they get an elected mayor, they will discover that person has a lot of work to do," he warns.

There are perhaps more similarities between the situation in Bury and Torbay, which chose an elected mayor, Nick Bye, in 2005 following what the incumbent describes as a protest vote against the way the authority had been run. Today, Nick Bye agrees that choosing an elected mayor on the strength of a single issue is probably a bad idea. But he believes that elected mayors can be major boon for a local authority.

"You put your place on the map, you get the investment and that can only be good for an area," he says.

We'll have to wait and see whether the people of Bury think that an elected mayor is a good idea, or whether they simply want to make a monkey out of those proposing congestion charging.


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