The Argus has printed many views and opinions about the possibility of Brighton and Hove citizens being allowed for the first time to vote for a mayor or city chief executive for a four-year term.

Some local politicians have been honest enough to say in public that more than 60 per cent of eligible voters do not vote "because they don't trust us to deliver on the promises of improved services". Might that have some truth? What are very dubious are the cries of "abandoning democracy as we know it".

The most blatant example of Brighton and Hove City Council's "false" democracy recently was the decision to close the Palmeira Project, tell parents afterwards and then be forced by a judge to put the closure on hold.

I would like to see the Government's Option C, an elected mayor to run the city's operations with a city manager. Political parties would staff the very important scrutiny boards.

The salary being talked about is £100,000. This level of pay might just tempt a dynamic, mature business person with proven commercial success who wants to try something different for four years to offer him or herself for election.

Just think of a totally new approach. Decisions taken by professional managers to deliver best-practice services without being lumbered with political point scoring. Also, the 60 per cent of non-voters plus the others have, for the first time, the chance to choose the person themselves.

That really would be democracy.

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