The number of people who had their say on whether the North East should have a new elected mayor was “really disappointing”, council bosses have been told.
Results from a public consultation on a proposed £4bn devolution deal for the region, which will involve a new mayor being elected to govern a combined authority across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham, were published last week – showing majority public support for the huge plans. But, from a vast area with a combined population of around two million people, there were just 3,235 responses.
Councillors in Newcastle have aired their frustration with the low take-up for a questionnaire which ran for eight weeks earlier this year. Clare Penny-Evans, a Labour representative in Heaton, told an overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday: “Given the population of those local authorities, it seems really disappointing the amount of people that actually participated in the consultation. I had a go myself and it was quite a prescriptive questionnaire, very limited in how you could answer.
