Berkshire and Oxfordshire could be unified under a new elected mayor in the coming years.
The Labour government has triggered a reorganisation of local councils, resulting in the abolition of county councils.
On top of that, the government wants councils to join up in regional units called ‘strategic authorities’, similar to those created in the West of England and the Cambridge and Peterborough combined authority.
Councils in Berkshire are recommended to join forces with those in Oxfordshire to become the Thames Valley Mayoral Strategic Authority.
This authority will be in charge of strategic planning, transport and housing projects throughout the area.
Council leaders in Berkshire have previously said that they are not keen on having a regional mayor.
Stephen Conway (Liberal Democrats, Twyford, Ruscombe & Hurst), the Wokingham Borough Council leader, said: “There’s a very strong view in all of the councils that we do not want a mayoral route, I think we just have to wait and see how the government responds.”
These opinions have been expressed at meetings of the Berkshire Prosperity Board, attended by the six council leaders in the county and executive officers.
However, a report to the board by Paul Patterson, the devolution director for Berkshire and Kim Sawyer, who holds the same position in Oxfordshire, argues that the government is unlikely to accept the creation of the Thames Valley Strategic Authority without an elected mayor.
Upcoming authorities without mayors are called ‘Foundation Strategic Authorities’.
But the Labour government’s preference is for elected mayors, as foundation strategic authorities are intended to cover smaller areas.
The report states: “A Foundation Strategic Authority has very limited powers and will only be allowed by the government in exceptional circumstances.
“Whilst these circumstances are not set out by the government, it is understood that Foundation Strategic Authorities will only be agreed where
the government had previously been in discussion with authorities on this model.
“The government’s strong preference is for partnerships that bring more than one local authority together over a large geography, and typically, the government is expecting strategic authorities to cover a population of at least 1.5 million.”
The devolution programmer directors have asked Berkshire Prosperity Board and Oxfordshire Joint Leaders Committee to note the report and submit an expression of interest to the government requesting to be included in the devolution programme by the end of the year.
Leaders are expected to approve these recommendations at the board meeting on Monday, October 13.
The reorganisation could even see Swindon Borough Council join an upcoming Thames Valley mayoral strategic authority.
However, Swindon is not mentioned as one of the councils that must take action.
Mr Patterson was appointed as the devolution director for Berkshire in the summer.
He is being paid £130,000 on a one-year fixed-term contract to facilitate negotiations between the councils and the government.
