Bristol and elected mayors: Shipshape? BRISTOLIANS like to think of themselves as nonconformists. John Wesley gave his first open-air sermon in 1739 in what became the cradle of Methodism, and the works of native son Banksy, an artist who sends up the pieties of the day in vivid graffiti, brought 350,000 visitors to Bristol Museum in 2009. A long-running campaign against mass capitalism in the form of a new Tesco Express in Stokes Croft, a bohemian district near the city centre, led to a confrontation in April 2011 in which eight policemen were injured. So it should be no surprise that, of the ten cities holding referendums in May on whether to elect a mayor, only Bristol voted yes. The bookies" money is on Marvin Rees, a community organiser and NHS employee selected by the Labour Party, followed by George Ferguson, an architect influential in Bristol's regeneration who is standing as an independent. The Liberal Democrats, who currently run the council, will pick a candidate shortly. On the face of it, Bristol has less reason than most places to change the way it does business. As the table shows, Bristol and its economic catchment area are at or near the top of most big-city rankings - often with London and Edinburgh - on figures from the Centre for Cities, a think-tank. The secret seems to be a diverse economy, thriving universities and location. For many years Bristol, with its flourishing port, was England's second city; it grew rich on trade with the Caribbean, including trade in slaves. In the 19th century its port lost ground to Liverpool, which had easier access to the Atlantic and to the cities of the Industrial Revolution at its back. Other forms of commerce developed instead in Bristol, and, as a result, the city did not suffer so much from the decline of heavy industry. Today the Bristol area is home to big aerospace companies, specialist manufacturers, high-tech firms, financial- and professional-services firms and creative studios. Bristol University in particular, one of the elite Russell Group, cranks out graduates from elsewhere who are happy to stay on in one of Britain's most beautiful cities. London and the M4 high-tech corridor are close by road and rail - and electrification will shave journey times. In the shadows But other statistics paint a more disturbing picture. State education, though improving fast, remains dire. In 2011, looking at how many students got five good GCSEs including English and maths, Bristol ranked 136th out of 151 local authorities. It has more crack-cocaine and heroin users per head than the other seven big regional (dubbed "core") cities, though the number is falling. Bristol overall is the least deprived of those cities, but it has pockets of extreme want. Like most big cities, Bristol is diverse - new census figures are expected to show that about 14% of residents are of black or minority-ethnic background, with a big recent influx of Somalis among the longer-standing Afro-Caribbean and Asian populations. A riot in 1980 in St Pauls, a poor district north-east of the city centre, kicked off a round of racial outbursts in cities around the country. Many think Bristol is more comfortable in its skin these days, but they view a march planned by the anti-Islamist English Defence League for July 14th with a mixture of outrage and trepidation. Bristol seems a collection of villages that are disconnected both socially and geographically (transport does not favour poor South Bristol, for example). In some ways it is a mini-London, where a rising economic tide has also failed to lift all boats. Will a mayor make a difference? Colin Skellett, chairman of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (and in his spare time of Wessex Water), thinks it may. Bristol has been a bit complacent. Growth has tended to come from established firms, though a new tax-favoured "enterprise zone" and more energetic marketing of the region to investors may change that. Businesses think the city needs a champion - look at what Boris Johnson and, before him, Ken Livingstone did for London, says Mr Skellett - as long as the right sort of person is elected. Both Mr Ferguson, the independent candidate for mayor, and Mr Rees, Labour's man, see bringing the city together and making its council more effective as central. Local politics is chaotic: there have been seven council leaders in the past ten years. "Bristol is less than the sum of its parts," says Mr Rees. In these difficult economic times, Mr Ferguson wants to be "out there beating the drum for Bristol, not trapped in smoke-free rooms." One benefit of voting for an elected mayor has already been noted. Bristol's position is stronger as it negotiates a "City Deal" with central government, which is extending special privileges to big cities willing to take more responsibility for promoting growth. Deals can include more control over business-rate receipts and more freedom to invest in skills and infrastructure. Better rail transport is one priority for a city in which road traffic at peak times can move at 16mph, the slowest outside London. "We saved the government's bacon by going for an elected mayor, which was their policy," says a commentator who prefers to remain anonymous. Some changes, though, can only be delivered locally. Under the present system, Bristol's councillors are running for office almost all the time: one-third stand for election each year, with only the fourth year fallow. It would make sense for the whole lot to be elected every four years, along with the mayor. A second change would give the elected mayor more sway over the chunks of other counties that make up Bristol's economic hinterland. North Somerset, in particular, is likely to resist being branded as Bristol, so serious diplomacy will be required of the mayor to make the others want to buy into Bristol's development plans. Yet it is Bristol's anarchic sense of itself that in the end will support or scupper the system. "No city in Britain is more jaded by politics," says Mike Norton, editor of the Bristol Post, which, unlike many regional papers, campaigned for an elected mayor. On November 15th voters will hand someone a chance, at least, to change that.