A MAJOR decision will be taken by the people of West Devon early next year, when residents vote on whether the borough should have an elected mayor and cabinet.

The referendum will take place in January 2002 and will be conducted by the Electoral Reform Society.

As part of the Local Government Act 2000, all councils must choose one of four ways to manage their business.

This summer, borough councillors voted to hold a referendum following the outcome of two polls which showed significant interest in change and which councillors felt were too close to call.

But at an extraordinary meeting last week, Conservative group leader Cllr Dick Eberlie said he and his colleagues felt strongly that the proposed route of an elected mayor and cabinet was wrong for West Devon as it was 'centralising controls in Westminster, leaving little to local discretion to meet local circumstances'.

He said under a mayor and cabinet system only ten councillors would serve on the cabinet.

'The rest of us and our electorates would be outside the magic circle' he said.

Electors did not want their councillors 'just to sit on working parties researching odd projects'.

The system would also be 'a large additional bureaucratic burden' which West Devon could not afford, said Cllr Eberlie.

He said a West Devon working group found serious flaws in the referendum, and identified a dozen misleading terms and inferences in it, but they were forbidden by government regulations to make changes to the referendum paper wording other than modest ones.

Cllr Eberlie added that the absence of any alternative ballot paper appeared to give the voter no choice other than 'mayor'.

Cllr Eberlie's views were echoed by other members, but they felt the right road was to allow the people to decide.

Cllr Ted Sherrell said the mayor and cabinet system was 'a total anathema'.

'Decisions will be made by a handful of people,' he said.

Cllr Roger Mathew said he was not in favour of 'a directly elected dictator', which was 'an American confabulation — a Ken Livingstone for Devon'. The elected mayor alone would appoint his executive.

Councillors agreed there was no alternative but to hold the postal referendum as previously decided.

The closing date for the return of papers will be January 31, 2002.

It was also agreed to use the independent Electoral Reform Society to carry out the work, after officers said to do it in-house would be 'a mammoth task' — the estimate of the ERS was also lower.

The council has submitted its proposals for new political management to the Secretary of State for transport, local government and the regions, who will consider the submission and make a decision on the referendum by December.

The borough will also request that the ballot paper wording be slightly amended, and ask if an unbiased information leaflet can be included with the paper.

If the public votes against an elected mayor, a streamlined committee system will be brought in.

Copies of the proposals are available from Wendy Cooper at West Devon Borough Council on 01822 813600 and on the council's website http://www.westdevon.gov.uk">www.westdevon.gov.uk.