A little over two years ago the metropolitan councils of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan formed the Greater Manchester combined local authority with powers to oversee transport, economic development and regeneration.
This was the first small but significant step towards regional governance since John Prescott’s ill-judged 2001 plan for regional assemblies, and there were many pundits ready to suggest that other conurbations across England and Wales would quickly follow Manchester’s example.
Certainly, the Greater Manchester authorities had already been working together for several years in a more informal organisation and were in well equipped to formalise the arrangements. It is true, however, that the case for combined authorities has been given a boost by the emergence of Local Enterprise Partnerships, which have been handed responsibility for delivering economic development across council borders through the Regional Growth Fund.
Guidance issued by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills refers specifically to the type of collective governance arrangements that LEP councils may wish to consider, including combined authorities, a joint leaders’ board or economic prosperity board.
As ever, the Government is making it clear that any move towards a combined authority must be locally driven. “We are not prescribing any fixed way of working”, the guidance notes.
This reluctance to require councils to form regional bodies means that it is a matter for proud and independent boroughs and cities as the whether they will be prepared to put past rivalries aside. Certainly, in the West Midlands, the prospect of a combined authority would appear to be as remote now as it ever has been.
Four more combined authorities are in the process of being formed.
West Yorkshire, bringing together Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield is expected to be up and running by April 2014, while a plan by Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield to form a South Yorkshire combined authority and a proposal by Newcastle and six other councils to form a North-east combined authority are still on the drawing board.
More recently, the six Liverpool city region councils have announced their intention to consult on forming a combined authority.
Not sure why no regional govt in Midlands, Grtr Manchester, Merseyside etc like in London. Guess turkeys/Christmas?
Fresh hope for a Greater Birmingham authority – but only if council leaders can agree @ChamberlainFile
@SmithTonyD @ChamberlainFile Combined authorities avoids mergers but lack direct political accountability – directly elected mayor for CAs?
@ProfCopusLG @ChamberlainFile eventually perhaps but will take time unless a government imposes…
@SmithTonyD @ChamberlainFile I imagine the most important part of that sentence is the word ‘if’…
@SimonFParker @ChamberlainFile you may well be right Simon…
The idea of a Greater Birmingham Authority based on the Greater Manchester and other multi authority developments has to be tested on a number of fronts.
The idea was first floated towards the end of the last Labour Government recognizing the lack of voter support for its earlier and flawed proposals for directly elected Regional Assemblies.It was an attempt to create sub regional institutions to deal with land use,economic,, transport and housing issues which cross local authority boundaries.More often than not these issues are regional and require a regional approach.
Unlike London and other parts of the UK outside England these multi authority organisations are not be directly elected and accountable to voters;nor have they powers and resources to plan and deliver responses to the regional policy challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed.
These multi authority initiatives are anonymous as the Local Enterprise Partnerships.More importantly they are being established with no refocusing or downsizing of Westminster and Whitehall which will continue to pull the strings pitching one multi authority grouping against others in bidding rounds for central Government controlled funds.
There has been a long history of joint working in Greater Manchester which in no way is reflected in the West Midlands.The reasons for this are complex and need to be understood before trying to transplant the Greater Manchester model to the West Midlands.
The shear size of Birmingham City Council relative to other local authorities in the West Midlands has proved historically to be both a strength and weakness of regional working and cohesion.In the Greater Manchester there is a much greater equality of size and dominance of central Manchester as a focus for business and economic activity for a much of the North West which has probrably helped support cooperation and the making of the necessary political deals.
We need our politicians to break out of the stranglehold of the former West Midlands Metropolitan and Shire County boundaries and to work together to deal with genuine Regional Issues .We need democratically accountable Regional Government at least on a par with London working with a really local government which is able to get close to and work with local communities.
Once again, narrow parochial interests threaten to undermine long-term prospects for the region.
Combining the two main LEPs could be the first step towards a combined West Midlands authority via @ChamberlainFile
.@ChamberlainFile the article doesn’t really suggest much hope at all – fresh or otherwise!
“@paulmdale: A Greater Birmingham combined authority. Could it ever happen? @ChamberlainFile ” It needs to.
A Greater Birmingham combined authority. Could it ever happen? @ChamberlainFile