Delyth Isaac Politics Show Wales

A campaign to make Ceredigion the first area in Wales with a directly-elected mayor has another three weeks to gather enough support to force a referendum.

Ceredigion, first in Wales with a directly elected mayor?

The protest group behind the campaign, Llais y Cardi, hopes that a directly-elected mayor would scrap the current council's plan to build 5000 new homes in the county by 2015.

Emyr Hywel, who chairs the group, said thousands of objections were sent to the council opposing the house building programme.

He said: "People believe that there's no democracy in Ceredigion at the moment.

"Because the opinions of thousands of people are being ignored, people have lost faith in the current democratic system."

The campaign he is leading to rid the council of its current leader, Dai Lloyd Evans, is hotting up at the start of local government democracy week and months before local government elections are due to be held across Wales.

'A referendum is their right but they will have to shoulder the cost'

The Welsh language pressure group, Cymuned, along with another local pressure group, 100 Ceredigion, have joined together to form Llais y Cardi.

Along with asking people to sign the petition, 100 Ceredigion are also asking council tax payers to withhold 5% of their bill in protest at the council's actions.

The fear is that the new homes will encourage people from outside the area to move to Ceredigion and this will in turn prove a threat to the future of the Welsh language.

The Local Government Act 2000 allows electors to petition for a referendum on a directly elected mayor.

A petition is valid if it is signed by 10 per cent of Ceredigion's electors, which means that Llais y Cardi has to collect at least 5,306 names, to be presented to the council by 31 October.

The local authority has already said that a referendum and election would cost �86,000.

Election in summer 2004

A council spokesman said that if enough names were collected the referendum would probably be in March 2004, with the mayoral election being held after the local government elections, due in May or June.

Mr Lloyd Evans said: "If the people of Ceredigion want a referendum that is their right but the taxpayers will have to shoulder the cost.

"If 5,000 of them want the referendum then the rest of the taxpayers will have to pay for it."

Elin Jones' party opposes the idea of directly elected mayors

Ceredigion Assembly Member, Plaid Cymru's Elin Jones, said the campaigners were pushing on an open door with her constituents.

She did not support Llais Y Cardi as her party opposed the idea of directly elected mayors, but she said the issue of planning and housing was the number one concern in her local surgeries.

"There's definitely a feeling of frustration with the council. The leader has a very strong and distinctive leadership style, and people feel that he doesn't want to listen to any criticisms of his policies," she claimed.

"There is a real democratic deficit between what people want and what is being delivered by the council."