Released Monday 22 April 2002

In advance of the local elections on Thursday 2 May, Chris Lawrence-Pietroni, Acting Director of Charter88 said:

"A Charter88/YMCA poll of young people carried out last year found that only 2% of young people thought that local government had ‘a lot’ of influence over their lives. Successive governments have taken power away from councils, and the public is aware of this. With turnout at local elections falling alongside the deterioration of local government power we need a return to the control of local affairs to locally elected representatives."

On the new voting methods on trial on local election day, Chris Lawrence-Pietroni said:

"Although we welcome attempts to make voting more convenient to the public, it must be realised that voter apathy is about more than an unwillingness to walk to the polling booth. The roots of disengagement from local politics must be traced to the decreasing power of local authorities, as well as a failure of politicians to address reach out to the young and ethnic minorities in particular."

On the elections being held in Doncaster, Hartlepool, Middlesborough, North Tynside, Watford, Lewisham and Newham for a directly elected Mayor, Chris Lawrence-Pietroni said:

"Most voters are confused about how the new systems for running local government will work. The new directly elected Mayors are not like the Mayor of London. They will have all the responsibilities for local services that councils currently have. What is important is that, whether a council is run by a Mayor, or council leader and cabinet, local people are made aware of who is accountable for how services are run, and that they feel able to influence decision-making between elections."

Chris Lawrence-Pietroni is available for interview.