Borough council receives petition urging referendum on directly elected mayor

Guildford Borough Council has received a petition calling for a public referendum on whether it should move to a governance model with a directly elected mayor.

In a statement on its website Guildford said: “The petition needs to meet the necessary legal requirements before a referendum is triggered. We are currently validating each entry to make sure that all of the petitioners are on the electoral register.”

A valid petition needs at least 5% of local electors, which is 5,012, the council said. The validation must be completed by Wednesday, 17 June 2015.

“If there are enough names and the petition is valid, we will need to hold a referendum across the borough within the next six months,” Guildford added.

“If there are not enough valid signatures, any valid names on the petition will remain so for 12 months from the date of signing. The petition organisers will have the opportunity to continue to collect and submit further signatures.”

The current Mayor of Guildford is only a ceremonial position.