Congratulations to Dave Hodgson, who has just been elected as the new Liberal Democrat directly-elected mayor of Bedford.

Dave won through after second preferences were taken in to account, beating the Conservative candidate Parvez Akhtar by 2,012 votes.  Labour were eliminated in the first round where they came fifth, despite having the current MP for the town.  The full results are available here.  The by-election was caused by the sad death of the former Independent mayor Frank Branston.

Dave is well known to party activists as the former Membership Development Officer for the English Liberal Democrats.  He stood down from the job at the start of the year to concentrate on making sure that the Liberal Democrats became the biggest party in the unitary elections in June.  This we did, and now it has been topped off with him being elected as mayor.

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to achieve the result, in particular to Christine McHugh who was the previous candidate and this time's election agent, (as well as being Dave's wife).

One of the most significant changes in the operation of local government will take affect following next year's local government elections (and already has in the county councils that were elected this June).  Yet, this change has gone largely unnoticed by many people in the wider world.  Perhaps because, like the original change to the cabinet system, non-politicians are more interested in the outcomes of local government, than the organisation of it.

The big change though is the introduction of what is known as the "strong leader" model of local government.  This change has come about through the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.  This piece of legislation scraps the right for smaller local authorities to retain their committee systems and also removes the option of a directly-elected mayor and council manager option, which was thoroughly discredited in the only council that adopted it - Stoke-on-Trent.  This means that all councils will have to be run either by a directly-elected mayor or through a leader and cabinet.

Much has been written before about a the virtues or otherwise of directly-elected mayors.  As the majority of places that have had a referendum on having a directly-elected mayor have rejected the idea it seems odd that Labour (and now the Conservatives too) are still pushing the idea.  This means that most places, following a consultation, will end up going with the "strong leader" model.  This option includes a number of key changes that will worry many Liberal Democrats:

• Once elected by full council, the leader will continue in office for four years - until the year they are due for re-election.
• The leader will be able to choose their own cabinet which must include at least two other councillors.
• The budget can only be defeated if at least two-thirds vote it down.

The result of this is to hand huge powers to the leader, which could be especially problematic in councils where there is no overall majority or where a leader turns out to be a controversial figure.  Whilst it can be argued that councils will be more able to "get on with it", it reduces the power of backbenchers even further and would mean that new councillors have no say in who the leader is for many years once they have already been appointed.  It also means that whilst in opposition council groups can elect their leader annually and have a say in the cabinet, once in power they can only elect their leader once every four years and have no say in the cabinet.

To try and retain democracy, ALDC is suggesting that Liberal Democrat council groups continue to hold annual elections for leader and cabinet/shadow cabinet.  This would however rely on the goodwill and sense of decency of the leader to respect their democratically expressed wishes, as there would be no way of stopping them appointing different people once elected in to power. 

We are also working on suitable clauses to include in the Model Standing Orders (some clauses have already been included, but we would like to improve on them) to ensure that any leader who ignores their group's wishes can be dealt with.  We would also like to hear more from Liberal Democrats around the country on what they are doing to implement the new law whilst adhering as much as possible to Liberal Democrat principles.  If you have any "good practice" from your area, do let us know by emailing anders.hanson@aldc.org

Good news has arrived from the London Borough of Redbridge, where it has been announced that two Labour councillors have defected to us.  This increases our group there from 11 to 13 councillors.

The Liberal Democrats in Redbridge have been incredibly successful recently, with two by-election gains in Clementswood and Valentines.  With the Conservatives losing their overall majority on the council in May as a result of a number of their councillors falling out over the election of the council leader, things are looking very good for the party in next year's London elections.

Councillor Hugh Cleaver, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Redbridge Council said:

"the addition of two more experienced and able Councillors from the south of Ilford will add significantly to the strength of the Liberal Democrats on Redbridge Council. This means that the Liberal Democrats are in a strong position to make further advances in the 2010 elections. We are the fastest growing political party in Redbridge and we have shown we can play a key role in the running of the Borough for the benefit of all our residents"

For more details, visit the Redbridge Liberal Democrats website.

This week, the Government published its consultation on reform of the Housing Revenue Account.  Liberal Democrats have campaigned in Parliament and on the ground for many years for reform of this system. The subsidy and debt problem, coupled with the loss of right to buy receipts has held Councils back from investing in existing and new housing stock for far too long.

However, the devil is always in the detail with reform.

The Government are proposing to redistribute debt between all Councils, which would abolish the subsidy system, but would mean Councils who are currently debt free taking on debt of other Councils. They are not proposing to use anything from general taxation – so paying off the debt is in a sense still a tenant tax.

The consultation paper is available here from the Department of Communities and Local Government, and Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Housing, Sarah Teather MP, would welcome feedback from fellow Liberal Democrats on the proposals.

To send your feedback, please email the party's Communities and Transport Policy Adviser, Alice Douglas.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The government is currently consulting people on the planning laws relating to houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

The consultation follows last year's commission that reviewed the current position on HMOs.  This review recommended that people should be consulted on possible new legislation on HMOs.

This subject will be important to the many Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners who are working in student areas, seaside towns and those populated by young people sharing houses.  The review is suggesting three possible causes of action:

Option 1 is to rely on existing ‘good practice' from councils around the country.

Option 2 is to change the Use Classes Order, so that HMOs need planning permission and therefore go through the usual planning procedures to decide whether each application is appropriate.

Option 3 is a proposal to allow HMOs anywhere at all - except where the government agrees to give special powers to councils in limited areas (Article 4 Directions).

The deadline for comments is 7th August and you can find out more on the Department for Communities and Local Government website.

Thank you to Cllr Sharon Ball of Bath & North East Somerset Council for her blog post that alerted us to this important consultation.