A group of young professionals have teamed up to launch the official campaign for an elected mayor for Birmingham.

The Yes to Birmingham Mayor campaign could not be more different to the ‘no’ campaign launched by MPs John Hemming and Roger Godsiff two weeks ago.

While that campaign is fronted by a pair of middle-aged, seasoned front line politicians, the ‘yes’ camp is a broad group of media, business and public sector professionals.

Julia Higginbottom, from Aquila TV, social media developer Jon Bounds, Centro’s head of strategy Alex Burrows and Nick Morgan and Chris Brown of Big Cat marketing are among the team preparing the fledgling ‘yes’ campaign for an official launch in September.

Ms Higginbottom said: “We are not politicians. We are a grass roots campaign and we are going to grow.”

The group are keen to mobilise support ahead of the referendum on an elected mayor due to be held next May and are also looking for sponsors to help with costs of posters, leaflets and promotions as they believe there is going to be no official Government finance for the referendum.

“It is not about a particular candidate or party, just getting people to vote in the referendum and vote yes to a mayor. We want to ensure there is a full debate about what is best for Birmingham,” she added.

The group believes that a high-profile mayor, with a city wide mandate, can do for Birmingham what Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson have done for London. Alex Burrows, a political lobbyist for the regional transport authority Centro, added: “This is a real opportunity for the city and for people to shape the future path of the city.

“It is an opportunity for change which does not happen often.”

Within hours of posting a campaign message on Twitter, Ms Higginbottom said 10 people had volunteered for the campaign. They are now looking for even more people to sign up.

The group has forged links with councillors and MPs who are also backing a yes vote and have made contact with the only two candidates to so far declare an interest, Labour politicians Sir Albert Bore and Sion Simon.