Regional mayor of new super power authority in Plymouth?

Referendum instigator says it should be in city

The man behind the failed Mayor for Plymouth campaign is turning his attention to garnering support for a regional mayor of a proposed new super power authority, to be based in the city.

Businessman Angus Forbes, whose hopes for a city mayor elected by the people and not councillors was not backed in a referendum, says Plymouth should be the location for the office of the South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority when powers are devolved from Whitehall.

Council leaders across the county have this week jointly written to government ministers in support of a south west authority, involving the whole of Devon and possibly Cornwall.

Strategic authorities, led by a regional mayor, will be responsible for a large population of more than one million and hold the purse strings and power on transport, skills, housing, and local infrastructure investment, formerly the remit of the central government. 

They will sit above unitary councils like Plymouth City Council who will continue to be responsible for local services like waste and social care.

There are currently 14 regional or metro mayors across England and this number will increase over the next two or three years.

Plymouth’s recent referendum was for a different kind of mayor, a city mayor, a system of local government which the government intends to scrap, after 52 per cent of voters said no to it.

But Angus Forbes said Plymouth should push to be the centre of any new larger authority with a regional mayor and their office based in the city.

He said: “We must ensure that this new regional mayor is based in Plymouth, the capital of the peninsula, because in order to improve the lives of 1.8 million citizens of Devon and Cornwall, Plymouth must be strong, it must be thriving.

“Direct democracy is the key ingredient that empowers metro mayors like Andy Burnham (Greater Manchester), Steve Rotherham (Liverpool) or Tracy Brabin (West Yorkshire) to inspire their populations, who together drive their cities forward.”

Leader of Plymouth City Council, Cllr Tudor Evans (Lab, Ham) said the regional mayor would be elected by people from the whole of Devon and he added: “The decision where to base the mayoral office will be a decision for the executive and mayor when the time comes and that decision is two years away at least.

“I would like it to be in Plymouth but I am sure that people in Exeter would like it to be in Exeter and Torbay the same, we will have a good old chew about that,” he said.

Devon councils say that the key priorities for the South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority will be maximising the region’s environmental and marine innovation potential, creating an integrated transport network connecting rural, coastal and urban communities, developing coordinated skills provision for key growth sectors, addressing housing affordability and availability and supporting national defence infrastructure at Devonport dockyard.