A FORMER chief executive of Liverpool council last night announced his support for the bid to introduce an elected mayor to the city.

Peter Bounds, who left the post in 1999, said he felt a change from the current council leader and executive board system would offer “the strongest civic leadership”.

In an interview with the Daily Post after picking up an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Liverpool, Mr Bounds said he endorsed the idea, championed by local campaigners but rejected by political leaders.

Mr Bounds said: “I think since an elected mayor has been an option, I have been in favour.

“I believe it provides the potential for a strong civic leadership, which I think our city can use, and I think the experience they have had in London shows that.

“I think if we have someone with the ambition and leadership skills to make strong progress in the city, the mayoral system provides a setting in which that leadership is most effectively deployed.

“I think it is the best system, but all systems have the potential for inertia as much as they have the potential for progress or lack of progress.”

Mr Bounds took over as Liverpool council’s chief executive in 1991 before retiring and paving the way for his controversial successor Sir David Henshaw, who moved to the city from Knowsley Council.

Sir David was followed by the current incumbent, Colin Hilton.

Mr Bounds said the relationship between elected members and officers, which came to a head with the high-profile fall-out between former council leader Mike Storey and Sir David and led to Cllr Storey’s resignation, was a good one during his tenure, which took in three different leaders.

Mr Bounds added: “The art of the role of chief executive is in a sense to meld the position and ambitions of the elected politicians with the capacity of the organisation to make the council or the city develop in a way which reflects its ambitions.

“To be chief executive of Liverpool was the best job anyone could have.

“This is such an important city, such a vibrant place, and there were so many aspects of city life I have been involved in, and seeing it develop, it was a real pleasure to do the job.”

Mr Bounds said he was proud to have seen the success of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year.

He said it was important to move forward and look to knew challenges.

He added: “The growth and development of the city in recent years has been great, and of course Capital of Culture was a fantastic year.

“It will always be something the city had and should be remembered.

“If you go to Manchester, it still says ‘host city for the Commonwealth Games’, which were in 2000.

“I think we have to move forward from it, in the sense of building on the cultural life of the city and the experience we had, to become even more successful.”

After leaving Liverpool City Council, Mr Bounds served six years as Civil Service Commissioner before moving into consultancy.

He is chairman of Liverpool Cathedral and company secretary of the Royal Philharmonic Society.