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LIVERPOOL’S next council leader needs to return the authority’s powers to the people of the city if it is grow beyond 2008, its business leaders said.
The fact that city council leader Mike Storey decided to step down over the email dossier scandal which has plagued the authority in recent months was a “sad end for a good leader,” according to lobbying group Downtown Liverpool in Business.
And it underlined the prolonged feud between elected members and civil servants which appears to threaten every major debate in the city.
“Council officers in this city have now got far too much power,” said DLIB chairman Frank McKenna.
“They have been prominent in the problems affecting this city’s regeneration – from Fourth Grace to the Merseytram.
“Hardly a day goes by without some reasonable debate dissolving into a stand-off between elected councillors and unelected civil servants.
“The fact that it has now culminated in the resignation of the leader should be a wake up call to the councillors the people of Liverpool have entrusted with the job of running this city.
“It is a sad end for a very good leader,” Mr McKenna added.
“He deserves a great deal of praise for his part in transforming Liverpool’s reputation not just within Britain but Europe-wide.”
However, the problems which have brought about the end of his eight year tenure should not be permitted to ruin his successor’s administration.
“Starting with Mr Storey’s replacement when he or she is elected, council members now need to take responsibility and haul those powers back into the council chamber, where they should have been all along,” Mr McKenna said.
“If this problem is not solved now, everything which Mr Storey has helped our city achieve will become nothing more than a symbol of unfulfilled potential, and a reminder of what could have been.”
Note to editors
For more information, or to arrange an interview with Frank McKenna, call Chris Marritt at Mason Media on 0151 707 4514 or 07908 214950.
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