@junegapi - as far as I am aware, Lewisham have only one car for 'official duties' which is leased

@dbboy - you've got no argument from me in terms of scrapping the mayoral system (unfortunately, the last government made it very hard to get rid of them - see s66 et seq, esp s69: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007...028_en.pdf).

I can't really see how an organisation as large and complex as a London Borough could manage without something similar to a chief executive (even if it had a much flatter structure), so I wouldn't want to propose that. On the cost point though, it's possible to make savings here, but perhaps more importantly we should ensure that the CEO devotes his energies wholly to the borough.

It's also worth noting that if the top 70 earners in the council took a 10% pay cut, the savings could fund the libraries that are threatened with closure...