Direct mayors fail in e-poll Directly-elected mayors were not the way forward for local government, said respondents in the latest Municipal Year Book online poll.

A total of 70% of respondents said ‘no' when The MJ's sister publication MYB asked readers in last week's e-poll: ‘Are directly-elected mayors the way of the future?' The results were broken down as follows:
38% said no, because elected councils in turn elected a mayor
29% said no, because it gave too much power to one individual
3% said no, because a regional, directly-elected mayor would be better.
Of the people who agreed that mayors were the way forward, 9% thought the move would enhance democracy, 6% said mayors were more powerful than mere ‘figure heads', and 3% said a directly-elected mayor could speak up more for the local area. A total of 13% of respondents made other comments.