Croydon Council confirmed yesterday that their public referendum over how the council is run will take place on 7 October.
The referendum will determine whether or not the council will continue to be run by the council’s leader, currently Hamida Ali, or whether it will switch to a mayoral model, which would see a mayor elected by residents take over.
The decision to hold a referendum was agreed at an Extraordinary Council Meeting in February and the arrangements were formally confirmed at a council meeting on Monday night.
Voters will be asked “How would you like the London Borough of Croydon to be run?” and the two responses are:
• By a leader who is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors. This is how the council is run now.
• By a mayor who is elected by voters. This would be a change from how the council is run now.
By law the council can only offer two referendum options, one of which must include the existing governance model, the ‘leader and cabinet’ model it has had since 2001, when the Local Government Act 2000 required most councils to change from a committee system.
By 20 July the council will have published more details via public notices and, in accordance with legislation, it will enter a period of pre-referendum restrictions beginning on 30 August.
Katherine Kerswell, Croydon Council’s chief executive, said: “This referendum is open to any resident in the borough who is eligible to vote and you must be registered to vote to be eligible. So if you are not already registered and want to vote in the referendum, visit the website below and sign up – it really only takes a few minutes.”
More information can be found here and you can register to vote here.
Featured image credit: Robin Webster, Geograph CC BY-SA 2.0 License
