News / Politics
More ‘visible leadership’ with mayoral system
Having a directly elected mayor in Bristol has led to a dramatic increase in the visibility of leadership in the city.
That’s according to the results from the first study in the world to carry out a before and after survey of the impact of a mayoral system on urban governance.
The Bristol Civic Leadership Project was led by local democracy experts at Bristol’s two universities, who assessed the perceptions of the public and of civic leaders towards the mayoral model of governance.
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Findings revealed the introduction of a directly elected mayor resulted in a marked increase in the visibility of city leadership.
In 2012, before the introduction of the mayor, 24 per cent of citizens thought Bristol had visible leadership. After the introduction of the mayor, in 2014, 69 per cent agreed.
This increase was also evident in the responses from civic leaders from the community, voluntary and business sectors. 25 per cent agreed that Bristol had visible leadership in 2012, compared with 97 per cent in 2014.
But councillors tend to be less positive than other groups about the introduction of the mayor. While 54 per cent of citizens and around 78 per cent of public managers and leaders from the business, community and voluntary sectors agreed that the introduction of the mayoral system had ensured the interests of Bristol are better represented, only 33 per of councillors agreed.
Overall 33 per cent of people questioned said that a mayor has improved public confidence in decision-making but there are differences across the city. In the least deprived areas, 39 per cent agree with the statement compared to only 25 per cent in the most disadvantaged areas.
Dr David Sweeting, senior lecturer in urban studies at the University of Bristol, and co-author of the policy briefing, said: “The initial findings of this study highlight many major plus points for the mayoral model in the city with evidence showing its introduction has undoubtedly changed the way people think about the governance of the city.”
Robin Hambleton, professor of city leadership at UWE, also co-author of the policy briefing, added: “The idea of introducing directly elected mayors to lead cities is an international trend that is clearly on the rise.”
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