Should Stoke have a directly elected mayor?

"People have lost interest in local government because it is so complicated and change is so slow.

"We need to have faster and more daring decision-making.

"We need a Giuliani-style leader to personify the city," he said, referring to outgoing New York mayor Rudolph Guiliani.

The Stoke-on-Trent population is about 250,000, so the group needed approximately 9,000 signatures to force a vote, he said.

Other referenda

The council must hold a referendum within six months if there are enough "verified" signatures on the petition.

The 60-member Labour-dominated council in Stoke is opposed to a referendum, having already rejected earlier calls for a vote.

Labour councillor John Beech told the Stoke Sentinel that there is only a small minority of people who want an elected mayor.

The New Local Government Network, a national group campaigning for directly-elected mayors, has said it believes more than 20 towns and cities in England will hold referenda this year.

Referenda are being organised in Brighton, Watford and the London borough of Lewisham, while petitions to hold similar votes are being gathered in Bradford, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Bristol and Liverpool.