Number of electors in Bristol: 317,000

Number who voted for Leader of Council: 1,661        0.5%

Mayoral debate 2

Wed 22nd Feb 19:00 – 19:00

The debate will feature voices from both sides, for and against a directly elected mayor, in the Conference Hall of Bristol City Council. Join Professor Alex Marsh from the University of Bristol School for Policy Studies and panellists chaired by Bristol-based broadcaster Chris Serle to debate the issues for and against a directly elected mayor. Panellists include:

• Mark Weston, Conservative councillor for Henbury and Deputy Leader of the Bristol Conservative Party
• George Ferguson CBE, owner and founder of Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatre, and Past President of the Royal Institute of British Architects
• Deborah Hallett, strategy consultant and recent adviser to the London Development Agency
• Barbara Janke, Liberal Democrat leader of Bristol City Council

I won’t go into detail – Alex Marsh has written a very nice synopsis of his experience of the day so I’ll point you there.

http://www.alexsarchives.org/?p=2577

Local political parties and their positions

As expected, most of the political parties have been reticent to commit (Labour says let the people decide, Conservatives have yet to say anything), or proactively prepared to campaign against having an elected mayor (Greens, Lib Dems). This means that our campaign becomes even more critical in raising the debate, otherwise we’re in real danger of getting to May next year with most of the general public completely unaware of the opportunity presented by the Elected Mayor role (the pros and the cons!).

PR Group
We’ve got a small group of PR experts together to address the challenge of getting the word out to the public and will be formalising our strategy for this shortly. We know that the Evening Post will be running a series of articles in the New Year.

“Should Bristol Have an Elected Mayor?” Conference, December 2nd, Festival of Ideas

Andrew Kelly of the Festival of Ideas has pulled several rabbits out of his hat and secured Lord Adonis, Ken Livingstone, most of our MPs and party leaders amongst others to present at this unique conference on the 2nd December. It needs support so please show it by buying your ticket as soon as you’re able. The aim is to break even, and enable those that can afford to buy their tickets to supplement or pay for those from grass roots communities in the city to attend for free.

Book your place now! http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/?p=1993

RSA Debate, 22nd February 2012

Our local Bristol RSA via Toby Procter will be staging a debate on the matter for the public. More details on venues and timings to come.

Other debates in neutral territory

Bristol Cathedral have said that they would be happy to host a debate on the subject in the new year.
Bristol Grammar School have also offered their space and the chance to host a debate with the parents of their pupils.

Help Solicited

We desperately need a pro-elected mayor solicitor to give us some pro bono advice on setting up a fund raising body to support campaigning and leafleting activity when the election comes around. Please contact us directly!

What you can do to help

We’ve had lots of offers of help waiting for a plan to emerge, so here are a few things that you can do to push the campaign in the right direction:

1) Spread the word as much as you can, as often as you can. More so the closer we get to the election. Forward this email to as many people as you can.

2) If you’re a business or have some spare cash floating around waiting to make a difference, watch this space because there will be a fundraising body founded just for the purpose of getting the word out to the harder to reach places.

3) Volunteer: We need more volunteers to help keep the pressure up before and during the coming campaign period, from blogging to tweeting to representing on the panels for various events. If you fancy getting involved in the biggest chance Bristol has had to date in taking control of its destiny, get in touch with us now!

4) Consider becoming a trustee for the fund-raising body: Once a chair has been appointed, the fund-raising body will need trustees to ensure that every penny is made to count and is managed transparently.

5) Encourage as many passive supporters to subscribe to the site: http://www.bristolmayor.org/ to stay in touch with developments as they happen.

In short folks, all systems are go!

I spoke in favour of an elected mayor and the outline of my speech can be found here

http://bristolwestpaul.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/gotta-serve-somebody/

The Labour Party itself will announce the outcome of the debate in the near future. I can say it was an open and friendly discussion with a positive conclusion.

Paul Smith

“in the first wave of referenda, mayoral elections should take place on September 20th 2012″

So, Bristol’s been singled out not because of size but because of the “chronic leadership instability” (in quotes because I think the system is broken – not the leaders), and will most likely be one of only three cities (Birmingham and Leeds being the other two) to have their referendum fast-tracked.

So, in a fallow year, how many votes will we need to get a yes for Bristol? Bloody good question… answers in a comment box please!

If you want to read the entire article then it’s at:

http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/39/mayors-and-the-localism-bill

today’s (9th Sept) Liverpool Daily Post is reporting Lord Adonis’ recommendation to the Sec of State that he postpones the referendums until 2013,
except those in Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds which would go ahead next May ( you lucky people… )

The paper is taking it as read that Mr Pickles will do as he suggests:

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/09/09/liverpool-elected-mayor-may-get-merseyside-role-after-12-month-vote-delay-92534-29389927/

This has annoyed the other cities somewhat, and I’ve yet to read the report that explains why we’ve been given special treatment.

We’ll report back as soon as we’ve got to the pertinent paragraph!

The full article can be found here:

http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/south-west/58366-

http://ow.ly/6iSBJ

The question remains: are we, as a core city, able to unify behind a strong vision for the transport infrastructure so that our bid for this additional power will be taken seriously? There has been much lobbying for stronger, faster links to London, bus routes, ring roads, greater connectivity to the South West. The electrification of the railway between London and Cardiff seems to be going ahead, which brings London 22 minutes closer to Bristol, but the rush-hour gridlocks within the city still need to be tackled.

Thanks to Andrew Kelly for sending me this link!