On Wednesday April 26th 2017 we will be holding our West of England Combined Authority Hustings for the prospective mayor for B&NES, Bristol and South Gloucestershire . In preparation we would like to crowd-source some questions for the event and would like your help. Please remember Transition Bath’s focus is on making Bath more sustainable and therefore we would expect the questions to focus on environmental sustainability.
The regional mayor for the new West of England Authority will have responsibility for the strategy for growing the regional economy, and certain powers over transport, housing and skills with a budget of almost £1 billion.
All 6 candidates have agreed to attend: Tim Bowles (Conservative), Aaron Foot (UKIP), Darren Hall (Green Party), Lesley Mansell (Labour) , John Savage (Independent) and Stephen Williams (Lib Dem). The Bath Chronicle provides a good introduction to the candidates here.
The aim of the event is to find out where each of the candidates stands on making Bath more environmentally sustainable within their remit. The format of the event will be as follows:
- three minute opening statements from each of the candidates on how if they were elected they would help to make Bath a beacon of sustainability
- Pre-selected questions from the audience whose content the candidates will not know in advance
- An open forum for audience questions
We would like your help in sourcing the questions. We want to ask the questions which are important to you, tell us what they are by submitting them in the form below.
There will be a series of short questions which the candidates will answer in advance, and will be displayed at the start of the event – these are designed to tie candidates down on specific issues (the deadline for their submission in Saturday April 8th). And then we will ask a series of longer questions for broader discussion between the candidates and the audience (the deadline for these questions is Wednesday 19th April). You can submit questions as many times as you like. We will select the best questions to be asked of the candidates on the day.
Doors open at 7.00pm on Wednesday 26th April at BRLSI, is FREE, but you must book tickets in advance (click here).
Voting for the mayor is on the 4th May 2017.
Further background information on the mayor’s role:
- Everything you need to know about metro mayors FAQ
- West of England Mayor, budget, policy priorities, political landscape
- Bath Chronicle introduction to the 6 candidates
- Transport responsibilities of new mayor in relation to B&NES
- A report and video of the 2015 parliamentary husting we held – so you can get a feel for the event