Petition for an Elected Mayor

Under the Local Government Act 2000, we need to let you know about your right to ask for a referendum on changing the way West Berkshire Council is structured.

Currently, we are run by a council leader and a cabinet.

In order to move to an alternative system where an elected mayor and cabinet would manage the council, there would need to be a minimum level of support for the proposal among our registered electors.

To measure this, we would need to receive a petition containing a certain amount of signatures. On receipt of this, we would be obliged to arrange a referendum for people across West Berkshire to have their say on this matter.
 

The petition

To be valid, a submitted petition must:

1. be signed by at least 5 percent of people registered to vote at a local government election in West Berkshire
   (this is called the 'verification number' - see below)
    
2. follow the regulations on how the petition should be formatted and how signatories should be recorded
   (you can read an online version of Regulation 10 of the Local Authorities (Referendum) (Petitions and Directions) (England) Regulations 2000 (as amended), or you can view a copy at our Council Offices in Market Street, Newbury)
    

The minimum number of supporters required (the 'Verification Number')

We publish the number of people that equals 5 percent of those registered to vote at a local government election in our area on 5 February each year. This number is calculated from the Electoral Register.

For any petition submitted after 31 March 2024 and before 1 April 2025 the verification number is 6032.