NOW this item caught my attention this week and thanks to one of my supporters for pointing me towards it.

Cornwall Council please note - a maverick mayor, elected after promising to slash council spending, clear the streets of yobs and ditch politically correct services, is the torchbearer for how towns should be run.

The mayor in question is Peter Davies in Doncaster who has also cut his salary from £73,000 to £30,000 then closed the council’s newspaper for “peddling politics on the rates.”

A month into his job he was pressing ahead with plans to cut the number of councillors from 63 to just 21, saving taxpayers £800,000. “If 100 senators can run the United States of America, I can’t see how 63 councillors are needed to run Doncaster,” says the mayor.

It gets better. He has withdrawn Doncaster from the Local Government Association and the Local Government Information Unit, saving another £200,000. He calls them “talking shops.”

He has also promised to end council funding for Doncaster’s International Women’s Day, Black History Month and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.

“Politicians have got completely out of touch with what people want. We need to cut costs. I want to pass on some savings I make in reduced taxes and use the rest for things we really need, like improved children’s services,” he said.

No wonder he has now received messages from well-wishers from all over the country and abroad for his no-nonsense approach.

Mr Davies is the torchbearer for how towns should be run as far as I am concerned so here’s hoping as they say?