Next November is local democracy month. The government announced its intention on Wednesday to hold elections for 11 directly elected mayors on what’s already being dubbed ‘super Thursday’. At the same time, elections will also be held for policing and crime commissioners.
But what benefits exactly can an elected mayor bring? According to communities minister Greg Clark, it’s about giving “strong, visible leadership” to cities. "This is an opportunity for each city to transform itself for the better,” he said as he announced his plans.
For Sion Simon, a former MP who stood down in 2010 and announced his intention to run for mayor of Birmingham, the most obvious example is of the benefits an elected mayor can bring to a city is London. “It’s been very successful” he told Huff Post UK.
“People in London feel like they have a leader, they feel like they have their guy who’s on their side, who speaks up for them and fights their corner. I think there aren’t other cities anything like the size of Birmingham with elected mayors. So there aren’t English comparisons outside of London, you need to look abroad and in the rest of the world almost every city in the world the size of Birmingham has a directly elected mayor.
“If you look at places like Barcelona, Chicago, New York there are lots of examples of transformationally strong, visionary city government making a huge difference to people’s lives.”
The government will hold referendums in May in eleven of England's largest cities, incuding Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham. - inviting local people to decide whether they want to have an elected mayor.
Birmingham, Liverpool, and Bristol are widely expected to join London in having a directly elected mayor and vote in favour of the proposals when referendums are held on 3 May.
There are currently fourteen directly elected mayors in the UK - including London and Middlesbrough. But on previous performance, they'll struggle to attract excitement.
While the policy is being pushed by the coalition, it appears that Labour could be the biggest beneficiaries, with several backbench MPs believed to be interested in the jobs.
Former Labour defence secretary Bob Ainsworth has been suggested as a possible candidate to run Coventry, and Gisela Stewart is reportedly set to challenge Sion Simon for the mayorality of Birmingham, Britain’s second city.
Simon says that with Wednesday’s announcement, his goal is “finally, reachably in sight”.
But it hasn't always been smooth sailing for elected mayors. Mark Meredith was the mayor of Stoke - until voters chose to dissolve the post in 2009.
However, he says he is still in favour of the idea, arguing “it’s a good thing for cities.”
“The general public were hoping for the mayoral system to deliver change and one has to accept that that change wasn't at a fast enough place,” he told Huff Post UK.
“I think that the main problem in Stoke was the disunity and the infighting that happened in the council. It happened in Stoke and it hasn't happened in other places. In Stoke people put their own narrow-minded political agendas first.”
But how many of the public are interested? With the government’s consultation into elected mayors attracting just 19 responses across England, the policy hasn’t attracted much public interest, despite claims from the department of communities and local government that directly elected mayors will boost growth and stand up for cities.
Barbara Janke, leader of Bristol City Council, thinks the turnout could mean that a minority of residents could “impose” a mayor on her city.
In response to the "What can a mayor do for your city?" consultation, she said. "The electorate is palpably apathetic and there is a real danger of having elected mayors imposed on Bristol by a tiny minority of enthusiasts if the referendum turnout is low enough."
The turnout for mayoral referendums has also been low. Thursday's ballot in Salford, where the city voted to bring in a directly elected mayor, was just 18.1%.
Simon, however, believes the public will engage once they’ve seen the benefits a mayor can bring.
“I think in the abstract, in advance, it’s quite a big ask. Since I stood down [as an MP] in order to do this I’ve knocked on thousands of doors in Birmingham talking to ordinary people about specifically this question and normal people are not exercised about this in principle because most people don’t know anything about it.
“The government has invested no resources in informing and educating people in this debate, nor has the city council, nor have the political parties, nor have the business community all of whom to different degrees are now talking about the importance of this change. i think it’s time for people to put their money and their commitment where their mouth is and get out and talk to people.”