Bristol Civic Leadership Project

The Newham Democracy and Civic Participation Commission invited Robin Hambleton to provide evidence about the strengths and weaknesses of the mayoral model of governance to an Evidence Hearing held in Newham on 29 January 2020. Like Bristol, the London Borough of Newham has a directly elected mayor.  Rokhsana Fiaz, the current mayor, established this independent Commission to examine the performance of the mayoral model and, in addition, to explore ways of strengthening resident engagement in the borough. Robin explained how the mayoral model in Bristol has resulted in a dramatic increase in the visibility of city leadership and answered questions about the way mayoral governance in Bristol has evolved in the period since 2012. The Newham Commission is expected to publish its report in March 2020. For more information on the Commission visit: https://www.newhamdemocracycommission.org/ 

Event at The Foundation, central Bristol, 6/11/19, 6pm

There are now 25 directly elected mayors in the UK, with the prospect of more to come. Bristol now has two directly elected mayors, one who heads Bristol City Council, and another who leads the West of England combined authority. Drawing on research conducted locally, nationally, and internationally, this interactive event will advance understanding of the impact of the introduction of directly elected mayors in English local government. It includes the following speakers:

• Arianna Giovannini, Institute for Public Policy Research and De Montfort University
• Baroness Barbara Janke, Member of the House of Lords and former Leader, Bristol City Council
• Alessandro Sancino, The Open University, and former politician
• David Sweeting, University of Bristol
• Chair: Thom Oliver, University of the West of England

This event is free to attend but booking is required. Please register here, via eventbrite.

‘What have directly elected mayors done for us?’ is one of a series of events organised under Thinking Futures, which shares and celebrates research undertaken in the University of Bristol’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Law.

Dr Thom Oliver was recently invited onto the Emma Britton Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Bristol on Tuesday 3^rd September to discuss the proposed increase in salaries for Bristol’s Directly Elected Mayor and Bristol’s local councillors.

Thom discussed how the proposed salary compared with other bigpolitical roles, and mayoral roles in the UK, including how the independent remuneration committee had benchmarked against roles of a similar size and scale. The original mayoral salary was benchmarked against that of a Member of Parliament, and Thom discussed that within the private sector a leader managing an organisation of equivalent size and scale to Bristol City Council in terms of staff, budget and revenue could expect a significantly higher salary. Thom also highlighted that even with the increase in the councillor allowance to around £13,000 given the scale and size of their role (a recent audit suggested councillors work around 25 hours per week in their councillor role) councillors were earning around the national living wage or less. This poses a significant question in terms of are we paying our councillors enough, and what are the implications of this salary for the types of people that put themselves forward to be elected?

The full recording, available for around 30 days on the BBC Sounds app can be accessed here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07klm6q with the segment on the proposed mayoral and councillor salary increases beginning at 2:06:25.

Launched at a City Gathering in January 2019 Bristol’s One City Plan presents a long-term vision for Bristol covering the period to 2050.  In a short article, first published in The Planner on 28 March 2019, Robin Hambleton offers a commentary on the key features of this new, strategic initiative.

The University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, Bristol are working closely with the Bristol City Office to enhance their contribution to the governance of Bristol and the Bristol city region.  The latest iteration is the co-organisation of the Bristol Forum. This important civic event, to be held on 29 March 2019, is designed to advance the problem-solving capacity of the city.  Here, in an article first published on the UK higher education website, Wonkhe, on 14 March 2019, Robin Hambleton explains how civic leaders in Bristol are drawing lessons from the imaginative leadership shown by universities in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

David Sweeting has edited a wide-ranging, international book on directly elected mayors. Published by Policy Press in March 2017, under the title Directly elected mayors in urban governance: Impact and practice, this book draws on examples from Europe, the USA and Australasia to examine the impacts, practices and the lively debates about mayoral leadership in different cities and countries. The book advances international understanding of mayoral governance and contains several chapters discussing mayoral leadership in Bristol. To find out more click here.