IT is with great disappointment that we are unable to bring you the visions for the future of Darlington of the two men who are vying to become council leader.

They have, politely, declined our offer to write 500 words each outlining what they stand for.

Therefore tonight, the 29 Labour councillors will decide which candidate will lead the group, and so the council, without the townspeople having a whiff of how the person who will become the figurehead of their town is chosen.

We don’t think that is right.

This is an important choice. It may even be a historic choice. Not since John Williams became leader of the council, with Bill Dixon his deputy, in 1991 has there been such a changing of the guard.

That changing of the guard coincides, hopefully, with Darlington council beginning to escape from the painful shackles of austerity. Since the economic crash of 2008, times have been very troubled in local government with budgets cut by up to 40 per cent. Darlington, led by Cllr Dixon since 2011, has suffered badly, making difficult and controversial decisions just to ensure the council can continue to deliver its crucial services.

But now it does have a balanced budget, and if there are no unexpected economic shocks, it can begin to look with a little optimism towards the future – that may well be Cllr Dixon’s most important legacy.

Surely the townspeople have a right to know in what ways the contenders to be their next leader are looking towards that future.

And surely the townspeople would like to be reassured that the contenders are on the right wavelengths and will be addressing their big concerns: the future of the town centre, of the library, of job creation, of housing, of new roads, of environmental protection…

The 29 councillors will be making a crucial decision because, like it or not, the council leader will become a figurehead at a time when the set up of Tees Valley politics is changing. The welcome advent of a powerful and media-savvy mayor, whose biggest project is understandably the enormous potential of the former SSI site in Redcar, means that Darlington does need a leader to stand vocally up for it.

Surely the people should be able to see how the contenders are shaping up when it comes to standing up for the town.

During the dark days and difficult decisions of austerity, the council has been accused of not listening to the people. The council would argue that the days were so dark and the decisions so difficult that it had no room for manoeuvre, but this perceived lack of consultation is one of the reasons a group of campaigners has forced a judicial review into the proposed closure of the library.

Surely, therefore, every opportunity to engage, every opportunity to explain, should be grasped.

It would be wrong to suggest that the Labour group didn’t have good reasons for turning down our invitation. It could have made the group look divided – but we would argue that debate is always healthy.

It could have raised public expectations that they would have a say in this decision when it is only going to be made by the 29 Labour councillors – but if people are going to have faith in their politicians, decisions need to be made as openly as possible. Surely we have gone beyond the days of decisions being taken in smoke-filled rooms with the public locked out, wondering what was being done in their name.

Of course, when David Cameron resigned two years ago, the Conservative Party selected the current Prime Minister, Theresa May, in a similar way to which the leader of Darlington council is now being selected. It was only Conservative MPs who could vote for the next leader of the party who would be the next PM.

However, even they did not do it in smoke-filled rooms. They did it extremely publicly, with press conferences and public speeches – who can forget the drama of Boris Johnson pulling out with Michael Gove’s knife sticking in his back?

More pertinently, who can forget Andrea Leadsom’s trip in an interview, when she questioned Mrs May’s childlessness? The subsequent public dismay forced Mrs Leadsom out of the running – so although it was only Conservative MPs voting for their leader, the public played a role.

The public of Darlington, though, are disappointingly being denied that role.

We are trying to make a measured response to our disappointment. We do have knowledge of both candidates and we believe they are decent, honest men with the best interests of the town at heart, and probably with fascinating visions for the town’s future at the forefront of their minds.

It is just that we would have liked to have introduced them to our readers so they could come to their own conclusions, without having to rely on our word, and, of course, we don’t know about their visions – only the 29 Labour councillors will be privileged to hear about them.

We also believe that a town has to pull together. Darlington always has our backing; we will always speak up for it, as we will for any and every part of our area, and we will work with whoever tonight is selected for the vital role of leading Darlington council. Good luck to them both.