LEADING councillors have tonight decided against recommending a new model of council leadership.

Under new rules, Waltham Forest Council, along with all other large authorities, will have to adopt one of two models of government next May.

Authorities can choose to have a directly-elected mayor or a system which gives the council leader more power.

Cabinet members were tonight asked to pick one of the models to recommend to full council at a meeting later this month.

But the cabinet has instead decided to leave the decision entirely up to the authority's 60 councillors.

Councillor Keith Rayner, cabinet member for governance, said: “We believe that having a process that makes it clear that full council makes the decisions as the sovereign body is important.”

The council is likely to be asked to vote on which model it wants to adopt at a town hall meeting on October 22.

Both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative group leaders have expressed a preference for the strong leader model.

Under the directly-elected mayoral system, voters elect an individual, who does not have to be a councillor, to serve for four years.

A public consultation has now finished.

Of those to respond, public opinion appears to be split with 11 favouring an elected mayor and ten opting for a strong leader.