A petition run by the Sentinel to force a referendum on whether or not to have a directly elected mayor in Stoke-on-Trent is nearing its target.

The newspaper, together with the Mayor 4 Stoke campaign, has now gathered more than 8,000 signatures towards the 9,167 total required.

In the past three months around 4,500 signatures have been gathered by the Mayor 4 Stoke group and 3,500 have been gathered by the Sentinel.

Sentinel editor Sean Dooley, said: "Government legislation allows 12 months to gather the five per cent of the electorate necessary to force a vote and it appears that this deadline will easily be met."

When the petition is complete and validated by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, it will be forced to call a referendum on whether to have a directly elected mayor who would lead policy for the authority, which it has so far rejected.

The mayor would work with a council manager to take day-to-day decisions, and with the 60 councillors who would ratify and scrutinise the mayor's policies.

Mike Wolfe from the Mayor 4 Stoke campaign said: "People have been very willing to sign. But we still need to get past the required figure, so it remains important that people complete the forms in The Sentinel or sign one of our petitions."

The Mayor 4 Stoke campaign was launched by community leaders in June following anger at the city council's consultation process in January and February which produced just 726 responses.

The Sentinel launched its Your Right to Choose campaign in August to help force a referendum and inform the public about the issues.

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