US-style elected mayors and returning business rates to councils are top of Michael Heseltine's proposals for the Conservative's agenda on urban renewal. Elected mayors would, claimed Lord Heseltine, ensure ‘clear leadership and direct accountability, and would be held to account by councillors and the electorate'. Their powers would be extended to include passenger transport and highways, fire services, the delivery of welfare and direct oversight of the police. Prime minister Tony Blair this week predicted a rise in elected mayors over the next decade and admitted he was ‘not sure' regional assemblies were the way forward. Lord Heseltine's business rate proposal was welcomed by the British Chambers of Commerce as ‘the first sensible proposal' for a scenario where businesses could actually support councils retaining the business rate. ‘Allowing local authorities to retain the first five years of business rates from new businesses could act as a powerful incentive to local authorities to promote business start ups and foster real enterprise in their areas rather than merely treat business as a cash cow,' said British Chambers of Commerce director of policy and external affairs, Sally Low.
