THE landlord who forced a referendum on whether Burnley should have a directly-elected mayor is locked in row over the cost of the poll.

Geoffrey Berg doubts Burnley Council leader, Cllr Mark Townsend’s estimate of £80,000 to pay for asking voters the question on Thursday.

He believes the actual cost of the referendum is less than £6,000 as it takes place on the same day as Lancashire County Council elections.

Cllr Townsend said he was confident the cost to Burnley Council was £80,000 as the county poll was for a totally different local authority.

Bury resident Mr Berg questioned the cost after Blackburn Labour Party chairman Damian Talbot said re-running the aborted Highercroft council by-election on the same June 8 date at the UK General Election would only cost ‘a few hundred pounds’.

The price of the original poll was £8,000.

Mr Berg said: “If the cost of re-running a council by-election on national polling day is a few hundred pounds according to a senior Labour politician, Cllr Townsend’s figure for the referendum is simply wrong.

“According the my calculations, it would make the cost of a borough-wide referendum in Burnley between £4,000 and £6,000.

“All the main costs of my referendum and the count will be paid for with the county council elections.

“Cllr Townsend has deliberately inflated the cost of the referendum to council taxpayers for his own political purposes.”

Mr Berg said he and a small team were working hard to win the referendum he called after Burnley council adopted a selective landlord licensing scheme in parts of the borough.

The 62-year-old, who is to call a similar directly-elected Mayor referendum in Blackburn with Darwen on the same issue, declined to say how canvassing was going.

Cllr Townsend, who queried the cost figure with officials when contacted, said: “The cost of the referendum is £80,000 even though it is the same day as the county elections.

“This is a cost Burnley council payers could do without.

“The two elections are completely different and Lancashire County Council is a separate authority from Burnley Borough.

“Preparation for that election does not significantly affect the cost of the referendum and the original figure we we gave of £80,000 took the same polling day into account.

“Our ‘No’ campaign is going well.”