Regional mayors: How do they measure up?

We were all expecting the majority of “metro mayors” to be up for re-election this year, but with the current uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, those elections are now delayed until May 2021. Those campaigning for re-election may now be judged as much on their actions to protect their regions from the health and economic effects of the outbreak. But this article will concentrate on the current powers of several mayors and how they have been used to date. Context is given to the clash between regional and national politics by the spirited public letter written by Robert Jenrick MP, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, in response to London mayor Sadiq Khan’s intention to publish the London Plan. Jenrick highlights the Planning Inspectorate’s view following Examination in Public that the London Plan would deliver just 52,000 homes a year, against an identified need of 66,000. He also points out that a lack of housing supply affects affordability and homelessness and will harm the overall success of London, as well as the disproportionate number of single-person housing included in the draft plan. Jenrick directs changes to the plan before it can be adopted. Directions prevent the publication of the plan until the directed changes are incorporated. These include encouraging boroughs to revisit housing figures, focusing on family housing, optimising density only at appropriate sites, bringing the plan in line with national policy on green belt/metropolitan open land, requiring more flexible residential and retail parking standards, deleting the “no net loss” principle on industrial land, and an immediate review of the London Plan. Certainly a clash in priorities. Is the strategy working? One naturally queries whether the current backlash against the London mayor is a natural consequence of putting the country’s great housing need in the hands of localised politicians. However, prime minister Boris Johnson recently committed to devolve further powers over rail budgets, timetables, tracks, trains and stations to metro mayors to allow the running of integrated transport systems. Broadly speaking, all metro mayors have access to a consolidated transport budget (including bus franchising), a strategic planning role and the management of a capital investment fund. All have had degrees of success in this regard. Their political influence has been used positively, putting their regions first. The general feeling is that it is too soon to assess the success of many of the mayors’ policies. However, they do not appear to have been singled out for a great deal of criticism as yet, London aside. Until the mayors are able to raise revenue, their full power will not be realised. Greater London Incumbent: Sadiq Khan (Lab) Seat creation date: 4 May 2000 Geographical responsibility: Greater London Authority and London borough councils Function: To promote economic development and wealth creation, social development and the improvement of the environment in Greater London. Specific devolved powers: The mayor can produce a housing strategy that allows him to recommend the amount, type and location of new housing built in London. Local authorities must conform but are subject to guidance from the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government. The Greater London Authority Act 2007 also gives the mayor powers over strategic planning, which means that he, instead of a local planning authority, can give permission to projects he considers important to London’s development.  Impact: How well Sadiq Khan has performed as mayor is now under scrutiny. The comments from Robert Jenrick above suggest that many consider his housing policy to have fallen far short of what London needs in terms of delivery. Greater Manchester Incumbent: Andy Burnham (Lab) Seat creation date: May 2017 Geographical responsibility: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan Specific devolved powers: Additional to most metro mayors, Burnham acts as police and crime commissioner, and controls a health and social welfare budget. Local industrial strategy: Led one of the first eight “trailblazer” local industrial strategies alongside the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership focusing on increasing productivity as part of the government’s national industrial strategy. Education and skills: Apprenticeship grants for employers. Adult skills budget. Post-16 further education system. Oversight of skills advisory panel. Housing and planning: £30m pa Housing Investment Fund. Strategic planning, land commission, compulsory purchase powers. Mayoral development corporations. Power to create statutory spatial framework for the city region. £50m land fund for remedial works to brownfield sites. Transport: Consolidated transport budget. Local roads network. Bus franchising. £243m Transforming Cities Fund. Health and social care: Control of £6bn integrated health and social care budget. £450m health service transformation fund. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) recently rejected the government’s latest devolution proposal, which was aimed at levelling the other metro mayors’ powers with those of the Manchester mayor. The GMCA is asking for extra powers on transport, skills and housing benefit, in particular rail and infrastructure. Impact: Burnham is generally seen to have had more of an impact than his counterparts due to the above extended powers. In particular: The “A Bed Every Night” scheme has almost halved rough sleeping (with a third moving to a fixed address). A local industrial strategy has been launched focusing on the region’s strengths in green tech and data science. Using his profile to raise the issue of sub-standard transport in the North, Burnham has received praise for his achievements. The “Our Network” 10-year plan to create a London-style integrated public transport network to support carbon targets with free city-centre buses and a bus franchising model is also under way. However, his failure to achieve the 100% reduction in rough sleeping (promised by 2020), despite almost halving it, and rowing back on his commitment to protect the green belt have attracted some criticism (now down to 4.1% from an original allocation of 8.2% of the green belt). West Midlands Incumbent: Andy Street (Cons) Seat creation date: May 2017 Geographical responsibility: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Solihull, Walsall, Sandwell and Wolverhampton Specific devolved powers: Local industrial strategy: Led one of the first eight “trailblazer” local industrial strategies alongside the Greater Birmingham and Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire and Black Country local enterprise partnerships focusing on increasing productivity as part of the government’s national industrial strategy. Education and skills: Adult skills budget. Post-16 further education system. Oversight of skills advisory panel focusing on post-16 skills provision. Housing and planning: Compulsory purchase powers. £6m over three years for mayoral housing delivery team. £5m regional construction training fund. Transport: Consolidated transport budget. Responsibility for key route network of local authority roads. Bus franchising. Transforming Cities Fund, including £250m over four years. Impact: Andy Street has used his mayoral influence on the panel of the Oakervee Review into the feasibility of HS2 and is a strong supporter of the project. While controlling the largest capital investment fund of the regions, Street does not enjoy the same fiscal powers as some of his counterparts, who are able to levy a mayoral surcharge on council tax. He has launched a £6m mayoral housing delivery team and a £5m regional construction training fund to ensure support for housebuilding skills. Street is committed to protecting the green belt, which has led to funding for brownfield remediation and further high-rise development. He has pledged to end youth unemployment and improve wages. A mentoring scheme has been introduced to upskill low-wage workers and, while too early to judge the success of the scheme, youth unemployment does appear to be falling (noting that 2017 youth employment was 23% below the national average). The mayor has also pledged to improve commute times. Although the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has gained £250m from the Transforming Cities Fund and published a plan to encourage walking and cycling, congestion remains a major problem. Despite Street’s emphasis on transport, the mayor is yet to take up the bus franchising powers available to him, as seen in Manchester and Liverpool. However, a knowledge-sharing deal has been established with London in order to share best practice in city infrastructure and a clean air zone is being introduced. Street has tried to gain similar policing powers to those of Manchester’s mayor, but these were blocked by the combined authority. He is, however, expected to try for these again. Sheffield City Region Incumbent: Dan Jarvis (Lab) Seat creation date: May 2018 Geographical responsibility: Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham Specific devolved powers: Local industrial strategy: Currently leading the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership to produce a local industrial strategy. Education and skills: Apprenticeship grant for employers. Control over £35m pa adult skills budget. Post-16 further education system. Housing and planning: Strategic planning. Compulsory purchase powers. Mayoral development corporations. Power to create single statutory city region framework. Transport: Consolidated transport budget. Local roads network. Bus franchising. Impact: Until recently, Jarvis had to operate without an agreed devolution deal, meaning he has relied on his political influence rather than direct control. With the deal agreed in January 2020, he will enjoy a capital investment fund of equal size to Manchester’s, as well as planning and skills powers. His power to create a spatial framework will not carry statutory effect but will be a material consideration in planning. Jarvis has focused on skills. The Sheffield Children’s University programme, which encourages children to take part in extracurricular activities, is already being seen to have improved children’s writing and numerical skills at Key Stage 2, as well as attainment at GCSE level. Stuart Tym is a senior associate in the planning and environment team at Irwin Mitchell