Bristol Ideas – the 2011 Bristol Ideas Forum – FULLY BOOKED
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Should Bristol Have an Elected Mayor? |
This event is now fully booked. It is being webcast by Bristol City Council: see www.bristol.gov.uk/electedmayor for details. If you wish to contribute to the debate use twitter hashtag: #bristolmayor. The final programme and timetable can be viewed as a PDF here.
With a referendum likely in May 2012, Bristol Festival of Ideas launches its first annual Ideas Forum with a day conference on whether an elected mayor would be good for Bristol. An elected mayor would potentially be the biggest change to running and managing the city since local government reorganisation in the mid-1990s. But would this help to deliver the vision and leadership needed for the future Bristol? Have elected mayors worked elsewhere? Is restricting a mayor’s powers to within the Bristol local authority boundary the best way to contribute to regional development? And would other forms of reorganisation offer better management and leadership?
Issues to be discussed include:
• What elected mayors could offer and what would be the downsides.
• The visions for future Bristol and the best means of delivering these.
• The powers required to deliver what the city needs and whether these are met by the current system.
• The leadership qualities needed to deliver the future Bristol and whether these could be better met by an elected mayor or by the current structure.
• Whether the current system should be revised (four-yearly all-out elections, for example) instead of electing a mayor.
• How mayors have operated in London and other places.
• The financial powers that are needed for an effective elected mayor and whether these will be available.
• Whether in the longer term an elected mayor should have an extended, regional remit, rather than just within the Bristol unitary area, to have the most beneficial impact.
Speakers
These questions and more will be addressed through keynote presentations, panels and audience debate. Current confirmed speakers are:
Councillor Peter Abraham, Leader of Conservative Group, councillor’s panel
Lord Andrew Adonis, Institute for Government on the Future Leadership Needs of the City
Joanna Averley, Director, Centre for Cities on Elected Mayors and Economic Development
Marti Burgess, business and community panel
Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, on How Mayors Work in London
Jaya Chakrabati, Nameless and Campaign for Bristol Mayor, business and community panel
Councillor Tess Green, Leader of Green Group, councillor’s panel
Professor Robin Hambleton, University of the West of England on Place-based Leadership in a Globalising World
Councillor Peter Hammond, Leader of Labour Group, councillor’s panel
Councillor Barbara Janke, Leader of Bristol Liberal Democrats and Bristol City Council, councillor’s panel
Charlotte Leslie MP, MPs panel
Ken Livingstone on the Difference a Mayor can Make
Kerry McCarthy MP, MPs panel
Ben Rogers, Centre for London on London Mayors and the Development of the City
Colin Skellett, Wessex Water, business and community panel
Stephen Williams MP, MPs panel
Programme and Final Timetable
The final programme and timetable can be viewed as a PDF here.
Responses
Comments
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October 6th, 2011 at 5:04 am
[...] Source: http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/?p=1993#more-1993 [...]
October 10th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I am a recent member of the Bristol Strategic Partnership and representative of equalities action groups. can you provide a bursary for me to attend as an interested party.
November 28th, 2011 at 8:05 am
[...] Should Bristol have an elected mayor? Friday, Watershed The first annual Ideas Forum from Bristol Festival of Ideas tackles the subject of an elected mayor for Bristol. The one-day conference will include some high profile speakers such as former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, Lord Adonis, and panels made up of Bristol councillors, MPs and community leaders. http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk [...]
December 1st, 2011 at 3:11 pm
I have been awaiting the long promised update giving the latest schedule and timings for the forum on the Directly Elected Major for Bristol options. The list of possible guests/speakers/panelists seems so long that one is left with the suspicion that the inherent constraints of the over-stuffed agenda will serve as a multi-level fillibuster – effectively minimising the chances that the discussion will be extend deeper and beyond the level of most familar ideas rather than left as a matter of persons – i.e. the agenda of power. Those with a hammer view and treat every question as a nail. The model of the day-long event still seems calculated to both pre-frame and pre-anchor the question in ways that would surpress the hope [expectation] of the breakthrough departure that Bristol [and the whole of the South West Region] actual requires – as the upwelling of life-bringing subtance, as a quality of difference. The former ploys are the tricks of (P)olitics as usual. I notice that the many of the following Festival of Ideas Events seem perfectly timed to anchor those same change but no change expectations – i.e. not only the Madge Dresser and John Savage events but, tellingly, the Pirates & Scientists [Aardman Animation] event. The theme and sheer humanity of The Chicken Run seemed very very different. The other events seem far less calculated – less polemical.
I have in mind the broadly similar “nudge techniques” of “auto-suggestion” sucessfully employed by Darren Brown.
Unless premised on the need for Bristol to effect some breakthrough departure the most that could be achieved by any Directly Elected Mayor would have the form of change but no change extension – while remaining firmly stuck [anchored by some however elastic cable] in the mud of Bristol’s Floating Harbour. So the event is hardly worth attending. Nevertheless I would see like at least the promised option of dipping into the live-feed, and could even send an email. So it would help to have the promised update uploaded. It would be especially helpful for the organisers to themselves double-check that the format [transformations] of the live-feed are diverse enough [from outset] to provide ready access to more than the terminals in the Council House and the BCC libraries – i.e. making the live-feed accessible to most home users.
My experience to date [of trying to access the BCC linked telecasts] has been that I have to content myself with a listening-again to the non-live-feed a few days after some promised event. That would seem to rather restrict the requested emails to those affording the very fastest broadband links – corporate bodies and institutions etc. So the fact that some users were seemingly able to access the live-feed is not proof that enough could. As a member of Bristol’s consulative 2000, I had already emailed a similar concern to the relevent BCC department – yesterday. The pupose of this request is to ask those at BCDP to both provide the timings of the updated schedule in advance, and to themselves double-check and correct the live-feed question beforehand.
S
December 1st, 2011 at 3:18 pm
I notice that I had sent the draft version of my earlier comment – unchecked for typos etc.
The same text should read:
I have been awaiting the long promised update giving the latest schedule and timings for the forum on the Directly Elected Major for Bristol options. The list of possible guests/speakers/panellists seems so long that one is left with the suspicion that the inherent constraints of the over-stuffed agenda will serve as a multi-level filibuster – effectively minimising the chances that the discussion will be extend deeper and beyond the level of most familiar ideas rather than left as a matter of persons – i.e. the agenda of power. Those with a hammer view and treat every question as a nail. The model of the day-long event still seems calculated to both pre-frame and pre-anchor the question in ways that would suppress the hope [expectation] of the breakthrough departure that Bristol [and the whole of the South West Region] actual requires – as the up welling of life-bringing substance, as a quality of difference. The former ploys are the tricks of (P)olitics as usual. I notice that the many of the following Festival of Ideas Events seem perfectly timed to anchor those same change but no change expectations – i.e. not only the Madge Dresser and John Savage events but, tellingly, the Pirates & Scientists [Aardman Animation] event. The theme and sheer humanity of The Chicken Run seemed very very different. The other events seem far less calculated – less polemical.
I have in mind the broadly similar “nudge techniques” of “auto-suggestion” successfully employed by Darren Brown.
Unless premised on the need for Bristol to effect some breakthrough departure the most that could be achieved by any Directly Elected Mayor would have the form of change but no change extension – while remaining firmly stuck [anchored by some however elastic cable] in the mud of Bristol’s Floating Harbour. So the event is hardly worth attending. Nevertheless I would see like at least the promised option of dipping into the live-feed, and could even send an email. So it would help to have the promised update uploaded. It would be especially helpful for the organisers to themselves double-check that the format [transformations] of the live-feed are diverse enough [from outset] to provide ready access to more than the terminals in the Council House and the BCC libraries – i.e. making the live-feed accessible to most home users.
My experience to date [of trying to access the BCC linked telecasts] has been that I have to content myself with a listening-again to the non-live-feed a few days after some promised event. That would seem to rather restrict the requested emails to those affording the very fastest broadband links – corporate bodies and institutions etc. So the fact that some users were seemingly able to access the live-feed is not proof that enough could. As a member of Bristol’s consultative 2000, I had already emailed a similar concern to the relevant BCC department – yesterday. The purpose of this request is to ask those at BCDP to both provide the timings of the updated schedule in advance, and to themselves double-check and correct the live-feed question beforehand.
S
December 2nd, 2011 at 11:21 pm
[...] spent today at the Watershed at the Should Bristol have an elected mayor? event organised by the Festival of Ideas. There were presentations from academics and researchers, [...]
December 4th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
The question of whether Bristol should have an elected mayor will soon be dominating the city’s political discourse, and the answer could have a significant impact on all of our lives.
With an impressive range of speakers and an audience which included a rich mix of figures from Bristol’s public life, the issue was examined from every possible angle with the ensuing discussions shedding heat and light in roughly equal proportions.
Professor Robin Hambleton spoke about the global challenges facing cities today, and suggested possible ways forward for Bristol in the future. Joanna Averley provided a detailed analysis showing how economic development is related to a myriad of complex interrelated factors, stressing that an elected mayor would be advised to concentrate on strategic decisions rather than get sucked into attempting micro-management.
Lord Adonis restated this latter point, and reminded us of the “soft power” that an elected mayor can bring to bear as a leader of the whole community. Sir Steve Bullock spoke to Ben Rogers about the realities of leadership in inner-city London, a challenge he clearly relishes.
There were also three panels – Bristol City Councillors, MPs and one consisting of local business and community figures – which wrangled over the many controversial issues raised and demonstrated that the “mayor question” is one that ignites passionate personal and political responses.
The chair of the first two of the above panels, the BBC’s Dave Harvey, was particularly good value for money. Harvey combined dry humour with an unerring eye for cutting through the verbal undergrowth to the right question to great effect, and he was an asset to the proceedings.
The undoubted star of the show, of course, was Ken Livingstone. In his trademark deadpan style, he fed a number of our political leaders into his merciless – and often very funny – reputational shredder. But Livingstone’s serious side is never far away, and three strands stood out for me – his passionate love of our capital city, his dim view of the British press, and his unequivocal views on electing police commissioners – which he warned would lead to a “carnival of reaction”.
I do however have one big caveat about this event. As was constantly recognised during the day, Bristol is a “divided city” and this event was unrepresentative of the silent – if not overlooked – majority of native Bristolians. I am a “Bristalien” myself, and accept that Bristol has benefitted enormously from the presence of a number of talented incomers. But if ways cannot be found to truly engage and include vast swathes of the city outside the usual influential enclaves, I predict that Bristol will continue to be doomed to dissatisfaction and the lack of a cohesive forward momentum – elected mayor or not.
However, overall this was a timely and broadly successful event which shed light on an important topic, and one which the Festival of Ideas can be justifiably proud.
My own views? I came as an “agnostic”, aware of the possible advantages to having an elected mayor, but vaguely concerned that the process could be hijacked by a D-list chancer with just enough superficial populist charisma to win through and then drop us all in the mire. However, after witnessing the seeming inability of our councillors to raise the debate out of the muddy backyard of local rivalry, I can only say I might be willing to give Del Boy Trotter a run out.
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:30 pm
[...] the political impact of mayors could be debated for hours (and in fact was debated at the recent Ideas Forum event in December). Of all the arguments from either side though, the one claim that seems undisputed is that a [...]
January 27th, 2012 at 10:54 am
[...] one to be outdone, next week Bristol will hold a day long debate on the issue as part of the Festival of Ideas with speakers including local business leaders, academics and even Ken [...]