What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington

[GEaston]

Congratulations on the appointment Judith. I do think the question of whether a Mrs Mayor is called Mayor or not is not the main issue at hand in Accrington today.

The bigger question to my mind is what can the Mayor (any Mayor) bring to the table in order to fix Accrington's serious problems. The town has been in a state of constant decline for as far as I can see the last 100 years, and throughout that period has had a Mayor (granted not you Judith, but a Mayor nonetheless).

In the absence of a budget from Central Government (I like the Accrington town plan which clearly had a lot of consideration put into it) the town will continue to deteriorate. Pity the recession killed that spend, but it did. So other than the passing of the Planning Act that makes it easier to develop commercial property, what else is coming to Accrington, or what can the Mayor do to help fix the town?

In USA the Mayor has real power. In the UK I'm not sure that is the case outside of London.

[Less]

I think they seem to be a figurehead rather than a political asset, perhaps not a bad thing?
They get put forward to represent rather than command.

Attend openings, (strangely, never closings) of prominent work places.

Add a touch of 'being' to the town, we may be struggling as a community, but even folk like me recognise that the town/district is on going.

It had better be, I want a future for all our grandchildren.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by GEaston

In USA the Mayor has real power. In the UK I'm not sure that is the case outside of London.

In Canada too ... Mayors here are not usually appointed, but are elected at large in their communities. They sit as chair of their councils, and vote in the case of a tie. They are also ambassadors for the community.

Mayor Mark Gerretsen - City of Kingston

Not a bad lad ... he is probably a Liberal; his old man is a member of the Provincial Cabinet.

By the by, the Mayor of Toronto (the fifth largest government in Canada) is in deep feces at the moment.

Rob Ford crack video: Mayor expected at City Hall to face allegations | Posted Toronto | National Post

And, of course, he is a tory. Sorry about the wander.

Once again, congratulations Judith. I would wish you the best of British luck if I were not a Canadian; so, the best I can do is: May the Force be with you.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by GEaston

Congratulations on the appointment Judith. I do think the question of whether a Mrs Mayor is called Mayor or not is not the main issue at hand in Accrington today.

The bigger question to my mind is what can the Mayor (any Mayor) bring to the table in order to fix Accrington's serious problems. The town has been in a state of constant decline for as far as I can see the last 100 years, and throughout that period has had a Mayor (granted not you Judith, but a Mayor nonetheless).

In the absence of a budget from Central Government (I like the Accrington town plan which clearly had a lot of consideration put into it) the town will continue to deteriorate. Pity the recession killed that spend, but it did. So other than the passing of the Planning Act that makes it easier to develop commercial property, what else is coming to Accrington, or what can the Mayor do to help fix the town?

In USA the Mayor has real power. In the UK I'm not sure that is the case outside of London.

The local Mayor doesn't have the power of say Boris in London, the Mayor of Hyndburn is a none political post, usually taken on by a councilor who is rewarded for their efforts on behalf of the people and is nominated by fellow councilors usually on a year about party basis. the Mayors duties are more ceremonial than anything, plus representing the borough at events in other towns and boroughs

[lancsdave]

Instead of asking what the Mayor or councillors can do, maybe we should ask those who actually get paid to come up with the ideas. It's our council tax that pays them

[Judith Addison]

There are two types of Mayor in this country. The majority like me are Civic or Ceremonial Mayors, representing the Borough at official functions and accepting invitations to visit voluntary organisations, schools, businesses, etc. throughout the community. Political power is exercised by the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet. The Elected Mayor, like Boris Johnson in London, is a fairly new phenomenon in this country. Such Mayors are similar to Leaders of Councils. In London there is still a Lord Mayor who carries out the civic and ceremonial functions.

[GEaston]

This is a good example of the benefit of this forum, as it provides a voice for the people to discuss the issues of the community from within and outside of power. I welcome Judith's active involvement, because you could not take up such a role unless you really cared about the community you represent.

Less and I and others will disagree about many things (as is evidenced all over the forum), but we can probably agree that we all want to improve the town.

I speak as a town "outsider" looking in. There's many things I'd like to know about the way the town is managed:

1) What is the council is thinking now that the Accrington Town Plan is dead ?
2) Why is the planning department a part time function? (part time phone only service to the public at least.)
3) Why do they charge just to make an appointment to speak with them? I thought the purpose of a council was to serve the people not charge the people.
4) Why do investors in the town get a frosty reception? Bad history?
5) What is it that the town offers that is attractive? (Ie beyond just hope and aspirations of local folk)

If the answer to 5) is nothing then it is the councils task to create something, and quick.

Finally, does anyone from the council care to comment on this forum? Not sure if you do or not but I would encourage it and would do so myself if I were an elected representative. I have no wish to be a councillor, but I would love to debate with them.

[accyman]

members from the council will comment frequently mainly around election time and mostly labour ones

as for actual employees of the council or heads of departments i havnt yet seen any coming on here appologising for screwing the town up i think they leave that to the councilors who as mentioned earlier only come here to bitch about each other or leak information/gossip via PM about council affairs that shouldnt be public knowledge etc.

Alas i digress and as mentioned accywebb could be a great tool to comunicate to the people its a hell of a site better and more reliable than that overpriced mess HBC launched but the narrow mindedness has seen a potentially great platform for communication been used as a tool for handbag throwing and telling tales.

if they ever do return be gentle as any question deemed too difficult or tricky will result in a vanishing act.I think it took graham jones 3 months to answer the members as to why he screwed us over a referendum and the answer was that we were too thick to understand and little englanders trying to cling onto englishness or something along those lines

we did have a tory candidate one time who came on to let us know she was standing for election and that she had our interests at heart because her grandad lived here allegedly many years ago lol.Im not sure if she ever stepped foot in accy to be honest

[Neil]

Originally Posted by GEaston

1) What is the council's thinking now that the Accrington Town Plan is dead ?

Is the Town Plan dead? What about this slightly misleading story in the Observer £2m Accrington town centre plans get go-ahead - Accrington Observer

As far as I understand they have been successful at stage 1 which gives them £50,000 to develop plans and the stage 2 application. The £2 million isn't in the bank yet but I hope they are successful at stage 2.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by accyman

if they ever do return be gentle as any question deemed too difficult or tricky will result in a vanishing act.I think it took graham jones 3 months to answer the members as to why he screwed us over a referendum and the answer was that we were too thick to understand and little englanders trying to cling onto englishness or something along those lines

I can't understand why he doesn't try and educate us as to why we should stay in Europe. From what I can remember he was for leaving the EU before he was an MP so he must have been educated as to why we should stay. Come on Graham educate us and we might want to stay in as well as you.

[Barrie Yates]

Originally Posted by Neil

I can't understand why he doesn't try and educate us as to why we should stay in Europe. From what I can remember he was for leaving the EU before he was an MP so he must have been educated as to why we should stay. Come on Graham educate us and we might want to stay in as well as you.

Don't hold your breath while waitng]

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Neil

I can't understand why he doesn't try and educate us as to why we should stay in Europe. From what I can remember he was for leaving the EU before he was an MP so he must have been educated as to why we should stay.

I suppose thats one way to put it.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Neil

I can't understand why he doesn't try and educate us as to why we should stay in Europe. From what I can remember he was for leaving the EU before he was an MP so he must have been educated as to why we should stay. Come on Graham educate us and we might want to stay in as well as you.

If your lucky he might send you a PM Neil

[Aussie Irene]

Originally Posted by Neil

I can't understand why he doesn't try and educate us as to why we should stay in Europe. From what I can remember he was for leaving the EU before he was an MP so he must have been educated as to why we should stay. Come on Graham educate us and we might want to stay in as well as you.

Neil. he can't, because nobody knows why we left the commonwealth and went and joined in the first place.

[GEaston]

Well that's a bit off topic, but easy to answer.

The EU is the largest trading black in the world. The better question would be why would we not want to be part of that? Being in the EU in no way prevents us from trading with Asia or America. Overseas inward investment to the UK comes in BECAUSE we are in the EU, which is seen as stabilising. For example The Nissan plant in Sunderland is the largest car plant in Europe is there because we are in the EU so trade for them with other EA nations is tax/tariff free (for the Japanese owners). Nissan would not be manufacturing in the UK if we were out, such manufacturing would go to Dublin or elsewhere.

There are a multitude of science and joint defence contracts that we benefit from such as the Eurofighter made by BAE systems, the Arean space programme and Airbus planes (where the wings are made in the uk) to name just a few.

The immediate impact of a UK pullout from the EU would be a very significant spike in unemployment. That is high enough as is, we can ill afford more. What would be the economic gain of leaving? Please don't say we can use pounds, ounces and stones again in the butchers....

Finally the Bank of England governor Mervyn King is dead against leaving and he is the most qualified economist in the UK. He isn't politically influenced.