Nigel Martin

Many people have concerns about the future of the mayor of Durham after the City Council is abolished next April, especially over who will elect the mayor in future and even whether the mayor will actually be a citizen of Durham City.

At County Hall last Thursday,  our fears were confirmed when the ruling Labour Cabinet decided to ask the government to allow all 126 County Councillors to elect the mayor instead of the 22 who represent the existing area of Durham City district.

I and my fellow Lib Dem Neville’s Cross Councillor Grenville Holland spoke passionately about our belief that the elected representatives of the City should choose the City’s mayor, but we were ignored.

If government listen to their party in power at County Hall, then it is conceivable that future mayors of Durham City could come from Seaham, Sedgefield or Stanley, rather than here in the City itself.

Even more deplorable is the statement in the report that Durham City’s Labour MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods supported this attempt to hijack Durham’s mayor away from the City.

All is not lost, though. The City Council will be putting in a vigorous representation against this idea, and the initial indications from government was that the elected representatives of the City should indeed choose the mayor under the Charter Trust arrangements.

Finally, Charter Trusts are meant to be short-lived affairs, so that when a town council is created for Durham City, the mayor would revert back to the Town Council. Even then, there were suggestions at County Hall that this might be over-ridden.

In my opinion, this appalling decision by the ruling Labour party at County Hall is nothing more than spite against the fact that they have been rejected overwhelmingly by the electors of Durham City. No dount those same electors will know how to respond when the next elections come.

Background - The government have recognised the importance of the mayor to Durham City and have promised that it will continue after local government re-organisation. In cases like this the policy is to establish something called a Charter Trust, the Trustees of which will elect the mayor and maintain its associated civic tradition.

Charter Trusts are meant to be short-lived arrangements within unitary council areas to cover a period until the relevant area (Durham City in this case) is fully served by town and parish councils after which the mayor would be transferred over to the relevant town or parish council within that area.

If the proposal to establish a town council for the currently unparished area of Durham City goes ahead, then this would mean the new Durham town Council would get the mayor, effectively taking things back to where they were before the 1974 changes to the structure of local government …

… unless Labour at County Hall gets its way.