COMMUNITIES across Britain are in revolt against the new generation of directly elected mayors, whose high salaries and “dictatorial” powers have triggered attempts to oust them from office.

Campaigns to scrap directly elected mayors are under way in four out of the eleven councils where they operate — a blow for Tony Blair, who wants to install more of them across the country.

A White Paper on local government this autumn is expected to propose expanding the number of elected mayors and giving them extended powers in a bid to improve town-hall leadership. But there has been a public backlash against some existing mayors, with locals unhappy at salaries of up to £70,000 and their ability to push through difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions.

Campaign groups have now been set up in Stoke-on-Trent, Doncaster, Lewisham and Hartlepool to trigger a referendum that would abolish the office of mayor and instead create a leader and cabinet system of local government.

Stoke-on-Trent council has voted to have a referendum in May to change the city’s governance. If successful it would unseat Mark Meredith, the Labour mayor.

Mr Meredith presides over an unusual format where power is invested in two people — the mayor and his council manager, an unelected post.

Councillors in Stoke-on-Trent claim that the two men have run roughshod over members’ decisions and pressed ahead with unpopular policies such as the mass laying-down of gravestones. There has also been disquiet about Mr Meredith’s £70,000 salary and his recent proposal to pay seven advisers an extra £9,000 a year.

Campaigners in Doncaster have gathered 2,000 signatures in a petition to try to change their system of having a directly eleced mayor. They hope to oust Martin Winter, also Labour, and are confident of reaching the 11,000 signatures, or 5 per cent of the electorate, needed to force a referendum.

Margaret Pinkney, an independent councillor, said: “We don’t think the system is democratic. Whoever holds the position is effectively a dictator. We can have a unanimous vote but the mayor can override it.”

Campaigns are also under way to oust Steve Bullock, also Labour, in Lewisham, southeast London, and Stuart Drummond, who ran as a football-mascot monkey in 2002 and won. A directly elected mayor can be introduced only after a petition from 5 per cent of local residents, followed by a referendum in which the result is a straight majority. But the laws to get rid of the office of elected mayor are more complicated and have brought widespread confusion.

The Department for Local Government and Communities said that a referendum to abolish the post could be triggered by either a petition from 5 per cent of residents or by a majority vote of the council. However Lewisham council has been given legal advice that the only requirement is a majority vote on the council. It insists that a petition is not necessary.

Phil Woolas, the Local Government Minister, has recently had meetings with at least two of the campaign groups to try to get them to change their minds, and Mr Blair has told Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, that he expects her White Paper on local government to be radical and include an expansion of mayors with new powers.

A spokesman for the Department for Local Government and Communities said yesterday that the Government wanted to see improved leadership at local level. “Elected mayors are one option for this,” he said. “The forthcoming White Paper will set out proposals for enhancing local governance arrangements and further develop the themes of stronger accountability to citizens.”

Chris Leslie, director of the New Local Government Network, which also backs elected mayors, said that if citizens were unhappy with a mayor’s performance they could vote him or her out of office — but that to dismantle the system smacked of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”.

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TOO POWERFUL?

Mark Meredith, Labour

Elected mayor of Stoke-on-Trent in 2006 claiming that he would back a referendum to change the system. Councillors say the two-man system of mayor and unelected council manager is too dictatorial, with council members over-ruled on budget decisions and policy. Has reportedly paid himself £70,000 and proposed giving seven councillors £9,000 each to advise him

Martin Winter, Labour

Elected mayor of Doncaster in 2005. Fellow councillors claim that the system is undemocratic and that he over-rules council decisions. There is also concern that he allegedly increased his salary from £40,000 to £60,000 and distrust of his political adviser, who is unelected. It is claimed that he blocked a unanimous vote from councillors asking for a leisure centre for children to be opened for longer hours

Steve Bullock, Labour

Re-elected mayor of Lewisham this year, but provoked anger by proposing to close the Ladywell swimming baths to make room for a new school before its replacement could be built. The Bring Back Democracy campaign claims that he over-rides council decisions. Mr Bullock insists that GSCE results have improved and the extra powers have allowed him to get things done quickly

Stuart Drummond, Independent

Re-elected Mayor of Hartlepool in 2005. Surprisingly won the 2002 election dressed as a monkey. Locals claim that the mayoral system is not working and that the quagmire of party politics still exists and is blocking improvements, but the petition to reject the mayor has only recently got under way

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