Vote on future of Liverpool mayor and how city will governed underway as ballot boxes put in place

Liverpool City Council has placed ballot boxes in One Stop shops and libraries in the city for people to vote on how the city is governed.

The votes are part of a consultation which has started on the future of the structure of power in Liverpool Council, including the possible abolition of the mayoral role.

The local authority is seeking views on how the top of local government in Liverpool should look moving forward.

What is being asked?

Liverpool residents are being asked how they would like Liverpool City Council to be run and have been offer three options:-

• Continuing the current system by having a mayor who is directly elected by voters every four years

• By a leader who is an elected councillor, chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors

• By one or more committees made up of elected councillors

Letters have already been sent to households with a link to a secure portal where residents can have their say, or request a paper copy of the voting form.

Where can you find the ballot boxes?

The boxes are being placed at 18 locations across the city:

Central Library

Allerton Library

Breck Road Library

Childwall Library

Croxteth Library

Dovecot Library

Fazakerley Library

Garston Library and One Stop Shop

Kensington Library

Kirkdale One Stop Shop

Lee Valley Library

Norris Green Library

Parklands Library and One Stop Shop

Old Swan Library

Sefton Park Library

Toxteth Library

Wavertree Library

West Derby Library

Other ways to vote

Website: https://liverpoolourwayforward.com/.

Email: [email protected]

Write: Electoral Services, Liverpool City Council, Cunard Building, Water Street, Liverpool, L3 1AH,

If writing, or emailing, please include your name, address and postcode.

The consultation is ongoing until 20 June.

Liverpool City Council say the outcome will be reported to full council and the elected members will then make the final decision on whether to change governance arrangements, taking into account people’s views.

Any changes will take effect from the elections in May 2023 and will be in place for five years.

It will still be possible to hold a referendum in this period if a petition of 5% of electors is presented to the council asking for a referendum of Liverpool electors to vote on whether to change the governance model.

Why are the people of Liverpool being consulted?

After being elected last May, ayor 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 £500,00, report the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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.

What’s been said?

City Solicitor, Dan Fenwick, said: “We want to give as many people as possible the chance to have their say over the future governance of Liverpool City Council.

“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.

“If you have already had your say, please do so. If you have, please do not submit further comments. 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.”