Ballot boxes are being placed in key locations across Liverpool in a bid to encourage people to have their say on how the city is governed.
Boxes placed by Liverpool Council at One Stop Shops and libraries throughout the city that will offer users the chance to make their voices heard on the three proposed models of running Liverpool moving forward. A total of three options have been put forward - leader and cabinet model, committee system, or maintaining the Mayoralty.
Despite being deemed too expensive, a formal referendum on the plans could still be held, should a petition of 5% of electors is presented to the council asking for a vote on whether to change the governance model. Letters began landing on doormats in the city last month, providing a secure online link for households to take part in the consultation process which runs until 20th June.
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Voting forms and ballot boxes will now be placed at 18 sites in Liverpool to make having your say easier. Central Library will be joined by sites in Allerton, Breck Road, Childwall, Croxteth, Dovecot, Fazakerley, Garston, Kensington, Lee Valley, Norris Green, Parklands, Old Swan, Sefton Park, Toxteth, Wavertree and West Derby.
After being elected last May, Mayor Joanne Anderson vowed to campaign to effectively do away with her own job through a referendum. As changes were made to the electoral calendar as a result of the damning Caller Report, meaning all out city elections were bumped to next year, a referendum has been deemed too costly by the controlling Labour group at around £500,000.
At a meeting of the local authority in January, Mayor Anderson’s Labour group presented an option for a consultation on the issue - priced at around £120,000 - to run until June. The Mayor said a consultation would 'do the same job' as a referendum and get the same results.
The outcome of the consultation will be reported to the council and members will take a final decision based on the results of the exercise. Any decision taken will take effect from the elections held next year and will be binding for five years.
Dan Fenwick, Liverpool city solicitor, said the council wanted to give “as many people as possible the chance to have their say”. He said: “We’ve introduced this to ensure that those without access to the online survey have an additional way to respond in addition to emailing the council or in writing.
"We recognise that not everyone has easy access to a computer, which is why we are taking the step of putting ballot boxes in key locations spread across the city. For security reasons, they are sealed and will only be opened during the evaluation."
Mr Fenwick added that those who had already had their say should not attempt to do so on multiple occasions. He added: “We will be checking for duplicate responses to check for multiple responses.
“People’s views in the consultation will be reported back to the Council, which will make the final decision on whether to keep the mayoralty or move to a different model of governance from May 2023.”
