The government wants every acre of England represented in a Mayoral Strategic Authority, with the elected mayors sitting alongside ministers in a UK-wide Council of the Nations and Regions.
I was deeply sceptical about the idea of elected mayors, presiding over a big geographical area and making decisions on strategic matters, when the idea was first promoted by the previous government. I am still uneasy about so much power in one pair of hands.
If we are going to get a Mayoral Strategic Authority, then we need to make sure that we get the best deal possible and extract whatever benefits we can for the people of Wokingham Borough. The only way to do that is to engage constructively with the process.
Talks have been going on for some months in the Thames Valley area to see whether it might form the basis for a new Mayoral Strategic Authority. The geographical footprint remains uncertain, with disagreement over which councils should be included. But councils in Oxfordshire and Berkshire have been considering how they can work together to prepare for a new Mayoral Strategic Authority based on their counties, though not necessarily limited to them.
The various councils in the two counties are led by different political parties – Liberal Democrats, Labour, and Conservatives. We all agree that we need safeguards to prevent an incoming mayor going beyond their remit.
Mayors are supposed to exercise some of the functions of national government at a regional level, not try to take over the functions of local councils. Parliamentary legislation will to some extent give us securities against a power grab, with the mayors obliged to work with a cabinet made up of representatives from each of the constituent councils. But developing our own agenda now and agreeing in advance of a mayor’s election on our desired priorities and work programme on matters such as key infrastructure projects, Affordable Housing, and skills shortages is a further and important safeguard against a mayor pursuing their own agenda.
Whatever their reservations about elected mayors, leaders of all these councils recognize that a Mayoral Strategic Authority is the best means to have a regional voice at national level to avoid our area being taken for granted and assumed to be in no need of help. Crucially, we see a Mayoral Strategic Authority as way of levering in investment – public and private, to help deal with the region’s challenges.
With many of the councils in the Thames Valley – including Wokingham – set to lose government funding in the new three-year local government finance settlement, Mayoral Strategic Authorities provide a route to money that would otherwise be unavailable to us. The government and its agencies have given substantial grants for strategic needs to elected mayors; they will not be as generous with individual councils.
The prize in terms of funding for our region is potentially so great that it would be foolish not to engage with the government’s agenda on a future Mayoral Strategic Authority.
Cllr Stephen Conway
