Power To The People!

Citizen Smith

Something I've been getting more and more concerned about over the last few years is the way in which public sector organisations (in particular, local Government) have become detached from the very communities they are supposed to be working for. All too often, we hear about supposed 'Public Consultations' and it is obvious that these are a complete sham - any decision that needed to be taken was made behind closed doors long ago. Indeed, I get the distinct impression that certain individuals view themselves as the the masters of the 'little people', rather than the public servants that they actually are.

I believe that we need to give new life to democracy in local Government and we can start with one major change to the present system, namely an elected Mayor for Conwy County.

Anyone can stand for Mayor, (subject to the same nomination procedure as for Councillors) and each candidate must set out set out a number of clear goals/objectives that their performance in achieving (or otherwise) can be judged against at re-election time. The position would operate in the same way as London's elected Mayor and would, therefore, have the power/financial budget to drive through their plans.

http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/

What do you think?