BRISTOL could elect its first London-style mayor on May 3, 2012, documents slipped out by the Government have revealed.

If all goes according to plan, voters will pick an executive figurehead for the city with powers similar to the capital's Boris Johnson.

That could include control over Bristol's most pressing issues such as transport, housing, regeneration and planning.

The Conservatives were committed to holding a speedy "referendum day" in Bristol and England's other 11 major cities, giving residents the chance to decide if they were for or against creating the powerful positions.

After the election, however, they appeared to row back from that pledge, explaining they would have to take account of the costs.

But in the Department for Communities and Local Government draft structural reform plan the timetable for actually electing someone to the post is set at May 2012.

That, however, is "subject to confirmatory referendums and full scrutiny by elected councillors", it adds – although officials refused to say when that process will take place.

The plans are part of the Government's bid to "shift power back to the people".

It comes as Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced proposals to allow the public to veto excessive council tax rises – something Bristol pioneered nine years ago.

He revealed council tax bills across England had doubled since 1997, pushing the average bill to £120 a month on a Band D home.

Coalition ministers have already pledged to work with councils to freeze council tax next year but Mr Pickles said he wants to prevent bills skyrocketing down the line by giving local people the final say in a vote on excessive increases.

That means an end to the central government system of council tax capping.

Instead any increases planned above a set ceiling – expected to be the rate of inflation – would trigger an automatic referendum of all registered electors in their area.

In 2001 residents in Bristol voted against a council tax increase to help pay for additional services in a "budget referendum".

No one at the city council was available for comment on the Government's plans yesterday, but city council leader Barbara Janke has previously said that an elected mayor was not needed.

In 2006 she and the then leaders of the three other councils in the former Avon area, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset, issued a joint statement declaring that they did not believe an elected mayor "would necessarily improve matters" in the area.

The opinion of Evening Post readers on the need for an elected mayor has swung from one extreme to another since the idea was first mooted nine years ago.

In 2001 a Post phone poll found two-thirds of readers were against the idea.

By 2008, a poll on the Post's website, www.thisisbristol.co.uk, found more than 80 per cent of respondents in favour of the idea.

The post of elected mayor should not be confused with the current Lord Mayor, which is a ceremonial role without any direct powers.

Even if Bristol had an elected mayor, the role of Lord Mayor would continue.