The Mayor of St. George’s will ask new Premier Paula Cox to rescind parts of the controversial Municipalities Reform Act passed under her predecessor.

Kenneth Bascome told The Royal Gazette that removing the rights of business owners to vote was wrong and ought to be reviewed.

“I believe we need to sit and have a discussion about this municipalities review that was held. I believe there are some things in there that need to be sorted out,” he said.

“I don’t believe that the legislation is final and we will be looking to see who the Premier appoints as Minister [with responsibility for the municipalities].”

The Municipalities Reform Act 2010 was passed in the House of Assembly in July after a debate lasting more than eight hours and a campaign led largely by the Corporation of Hamilton to have it kicked out.

Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling and Mr. Bascome had previously described Government’s promise to “reform” the corporations as an attempt to eliminate them.

The Act abolished the old municipalities electoral system based on property ownership in favour of giving all Hamilton and St. George residents the vote.

Mr. Bascome, who became Mayor last December, said: “I would hope that they would reconsider the legislation to allow our business owners to be able to vote in a municipal election.

“I would say: why would you have a city or town without businesses? The business people, in my opinion, make the town or the city.”

He said he understood the need to remove multiple votes from property owners but believed one vote for each would be fair. “I believe they should have the privilege to vote.”

He said the Corporation of St. George’s was waiting to see who would be chosen to deal with the municipalities in the new Cabinet, which will be unveiled today. Mr. Bascome said meetings were held with Ms Cox before the PLP leadership contest and she indicated that, if elected, she could appoint someone other than former Minister without Portfolio Zane DeSilva to the post.

“We had asked her if she would support us speaking to that Minister. She advised that we wait until after the premiership election, because there was a possibility that there would be some movement of Ministers.”

He said other issues likely to come up in any future meetings would be cruise ships and the state of tourism in the Olde Towne.

“I will make the point that I think St. George’s needs to be highlighted as a separate entity because it is a World Heritage Site and I don’t believe that we have used that status to the advantage of the country itself. It’s rare for a town to get that status — usually it’s a particular monument and things like that.”

The electoral reform in the new Act is due to come into force on April 1 next year.