On May 3, Watford will turn out to vote for a new elected mayor (as well as for one third of ward councillors). So it’s no surprise that there has been much talk of mayors of late, especially around what the value is of having an elected one. The first thing to point out is that not all mayors are the same. Many councils have a civic mayor, who carries out ceremonial duties but cannot make any decisions about council business. In Watford we have a chairman who carries out these civic responsibilities, with a different councillor nominated to take on the role of chairman each year.

Directly elected mayors were introduced by the Local Government Act in 2000 and, a year later, Watford residents voted to replace the council leader model with an elected mayor. Why? Because - ahead of the curve - the town spotted a raft of advantages to having an elected mayor. Firstly, a directly elected mayor has clear accountability to the electorate. But it goes much deeper than this. An elected mayor is the leader of a place, not just the leader of the council. This means they are vested with the authority to make tough strategic decisions and build major partnerships. They unite people and organisations behind a single vision for the whole place – and they are held to account by residents for that vision and their decisions at each mayoral election. These happen once every four years, giving elected mayors the time to make a difference and provide stable leadership.

A council leader, on the other hand, is chosen by members of their party, normally on an annual basis. This does not provide for continuity and council leaders without the direct relationship with residents are often not as visible. This connection to the public is reinvigorating for local politics and community engagement, which is demonstrated by the consistent upturn in voter turnout for mayoral elections.

In my personal experience I have worked in both systems - but for the past 15 years with an elected Mayor - seven years in London and since then in Watford. The speed and boldness of decision making is significantly different with an elected mayor and their authority to grasp the longer term issues and map out a future for their area is much clearer. An elected mayor has an executive role with major policy and prioritisation decisions to make, influencing in Watford’s case billions of pounds of investment. It is not a role that in my opinion can best be done on an unpaid, voluntary basis.

Most of all, please do vote on May 3, it really does matter.

Manny Lewis,

Managing Director of Watford Borough Council