Many questions over new mayor

THE decision behind closed doors to set up a North of Tyne Mayor leaves important questions yet to be answered.

First, who will the Mayor be accountable to? Will he or she be an elected dictator for the next four years? Or will they create an extra layer of bureaucracy on top of existing councils? Or both?

Second, where will their administration be located? Existing council offices in Morpeth or Cobalt Park have inadequate transport links, while Newcastle Civic Centre has leased a substantial amount of office space to the Family Law Courts.

Will there be a new ‘hub’ in the middle of nowhere which can be accessed only by car: so much for sustainability?

Third, will the Mayor be responsible for a Health & Social Welfare budget, estimated to be £2bn annually.

Streamlining administration would be cost effective – who needs three Transport Departments? However, providing direct services for 800,000 people spread over more than 2,000 square miles would be both unwieldy and inefficient.

Power should be returned to the people via independent Town Councils and Population Centres such as Gosforth, Whitley Bay, Hexham etc.

These centres would have their own Citizen Councils and be able to respond to local needs including planning. If each of these Councils elected two representatives as Senators, this could replace the present expensive and cumbersome Councillor system.

A Senate would provide the necessary democratic checks and balances which a Mayor would have to report to.

Finally, what’s in a name? The term North of Tyne carries little weight. And what if councils south of the Tyne want to join?

How about a time-honoured name that has lasted 1400 years – Northumbria?

JOHN URQUHART, Gosforth