Guildford directly elected mayor bid rejected in referendum

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-37657911

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The people of Guildford have returned a resounding vote against the proposal to appoint a directly elected mayor.

A total of 20,639 chose to reject the idea in a referendum held on Thursday, with only 4,948 voting in favour.

The result means the Surrey Borough Council will continue to be run by an leader appointed by councillors. The role of mayor will remain a ceremonial one.

Turnout for the referendum was just under 25% of the town's electorate.

It was triggered by a petition signed by 5,269 residents, but all three political parties on the Conservative-controlled council campaigned against the change.

Deputy leader Matt Furniss said he was delighted with the result.

"It's an overwhelming win," he said.

"I think a lot of it was down to the fact you could not remove the mayor as you can remove the leader if anything goes wrong, but it was actually down to cost.

"We were predicting it would cost another £250,000 a year to run the proposed system."

Former leader Stephen Mansbridge, who resigned last year in protest over how the borough council was run, campaigned for a directly elected mayor.

"We haven't won the day but in our hearts we knew that that was a more likely outcome," he said.

"This issue can't be revisited now for 10 years.

"Guildford residents had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a change, to become more progressive and more visionary and they have opted to remain with the status quo.

"That's their decision we are absolutely respect that."