THE region's elected mayors would be handed "executive" powers over housing, planning and regeneration, under Conservative plans to strengthen town halls.

Ray Mallon (Middlesbrough), Stuart Drummond (Hartlepool) and Linda Arkley (North Tyneside) would gain the beefed-up responsibilities within one year of a Tory election victory.

They would be able to abolish their highly-paid chief executives, so they enjoyed "hands-on power" to hire and fire staff, decide how the council was run and direct spending.

And other towns and cities would be urged to join in a mass 'Referendum Day', to decide whether they should also be run be directly-elected mayors - with transport powers also possibly up for grabs.

Meanwhile, every town hall would be forced to publish online every item of spending above £500 - to make them "think hard about how they spend our hard-earned money".

Caroline Spelman, the party's local government spokeswoman, told the Tory conference: "I want power back in the hands of our counties and districts, towns and cities.

"I can announce, today, that elected mayors will be able take over the powers of local authority chief executives. Under Labour, town hall clerks now command six-figure salaries - with football-style transfers from council to council.

"So let's have elected mayors who can hire and fire and really grip spending - without an unelected officer telling them what to do."

The shake-up will require legislation to replace the model of directly-elected mayors introduced by Labour back in 2000. Just 12 have been created in England - including Boris Johnson, in London.

Now the Conservatives hope to revive flagging interest in the idea, by creating mayors modelled on the powerful figures that run New York, Paris and other great cities.

They believe elected mayors could help big towns and cities drive their economies forward - and hope for a 'Boris Bounce' on the back of the London triumph, with Tory mayors triumphing in Labour's northern heartlands.

The 'Referendum Day' - with compulsory polls in the 12 largest cities, including Newcastle - will not be staged until June 2001, but the existing mayors would gain their beefed-up powers as soon as the laws were in place.

Ms Spelman also pledged to give budgets to individual ward councillors and end the "crazy rules that stopped them voting on things they've campaigned on".

And she repeated her vow to abolish regional development agencies (RDAs), telling the conference: "Regionalism was John Prescott's vanity project and if we're elected it'll go - lock, stock and barrel."

Her aides said local councils where the RDA is popular - such as the North-East - could agree to work together to carry out some of its functions.

But the 1998 Act that created the bodies would be repealed and its funding streams would be at the "discretion" of government departments.