combined authorities – the next big thing? With newly directly elected mayors due to take up their roles at the head of Combined Authorities following elections in May, Janice Morphet considers the powers at their disposal and the possible impacts of the latest round of revolution in English local government In May 2017, another revolution in the way that dissolution and the creation of a new authority from England is governed at sub-national level will begin. 2019. Other approaches include county bids to Local government in the UK is in constant flux, with create unitary authorities for their areas or counter- recent changes implemented in Northern Ireland1 bids by district councils. and reform being mooted in Wales.2 In England, there have been changes introduced by central What are Combined Authorities? government that have fallen into two types of reform. Such bottom-up initiatives are framed within an The first is structural and top-down, such as the assumption, both by central and local government, creation of unitary authorities in a series of rounds,3 that they will gradually be adopted everywhere. a new governance model for London, and the Competitions for access to funds, the filling-in of abolition of the quasi-formal but not directly legal powers and peer-to-peer recommendations democratic structures at regional levels in 2009.4 between local authorities will all support these The second set of reforms are framed within shifts. Where there are two or three authorities central government policy but allow for the creation working together as in mergers or City Deals, then of new local governance structures within supposedly agreements are easier to map out, and benefits can locally determined and bottom-up approaches. be more readily identified and ascribed to participating These include the insertion of an active parish and parties. The introduction of the concept of Combined neighbourhood scale5 from 1999 onwards, so that Authorities (CAs) in the Local Democracy, Economic they now have the same powers as local authorities, Development and Construction Act 2009, and and the creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships later extended in the Cities and Local Government (LEPs) in 2010,6 which include local authorities but Devolution Act 2016,8 are a more challenging are not led by them in general. There are also other proposition. initiatives that are contractual in style, such as City CAs are an attempt to change democratic Deals7 – part bespoke but primarily menu-driven representation areas from existing administrative approaches for vertical integration of central and boundaries to those based on economic geographies.9 local government, pursuing a common agenda. This means, first, that ancient boundaries are no Another variation on this theme is the longer sacrosanct, and non-contiguous areas may encouragement by the former Communities and have strong cases to work together based on Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles for local evidence of journey-to-work or housing market authorities to merge in some way. A number are now areas. Secondly, these emergent changes serve to committed to this approach – such as Wandsworth destabilise the remaining system of county councils, and Richmond-upon-Thames, where there will be already undermined by the loss of education and one chief executive and a common set of officers transport powers. Thirdly, these new CAs are likely for the two London boroughs, although the to be long-standing; and choosing new working democratic management will remain separate. partners may mean moving away from existing Suffolk Coastal and Waveney, both district councils, relationships to work with bodies whose people, are taking this further through requesting their policies and culture are less familiar. 96 Town & Country Planning March 2017 Thomasaurus/Thinkstock Greater Manchester, perhaps the most high profile of the CAs, has long-established joint working arrangements On the other hand, the potential for devolution of governance with a strong and identifiable leader, decision-making and funding for transport, housing, then there is a clear and additional contribution to skills, business support, culture, energy and public national GDP. health are all attractive to local politicians. While This evidence has then led to the third major more power brings more accountability, the austerity stimulus to these reforms, which has been through squeeze in local government from 2010 onwards policy adoption. This policy-based research has a has meant that local authorities are desperate to reinforcing role in and of itself, but to this has been find new ways of working, and Combined added alignment with policy and legislation through Authorities may be adopted faute de mieux. individual states such as Australia, Canada and the US, but also through the EU. The OECD and the Why have Combined Authorities and directly EU together developed a new ‘city’ definition,13 elected mayors? and the EU then applied this through its sub-state Each of the newly formed CAs is established by programmes for cohesion. The legal framework for its own Parliamentary Order and has a directly the operation of sub-state programmes for social, elected mayor with their own set of powers. These economic and territorial ‘cohesion’ is the fourth powers are likely to increase over time, as they driver. Although better known in its former guise of have for the Mayor of London. First, though, a bit providing Structural Funds for lagging areas,14 the of backstory. Where have these ideas for aligning new cohesion approach is edge to edge and the economic boundaries with democratic leadership programme is being used to reinforce the operation come from? There are five main sources to of these new economic areas in practice, through a consider. programme of Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) The first is through research based on Krugman’s strategies.15 new theories of economic geography.10 These found The last driver for these reforms has come that state mercantile models of international trade through the United Nations’ new urban agenda, were now not the sole proponents of economic which is promoting the role of stronger mayoral growth, with trade between major economic areas governance for cities to address action on climate within countries being equally important. This view change and create more resilient places. This has was contested by Peck, Theodore and Brenner,11 also been reinforced through the EU’s Covenant of who argued that these new state spaces were Mayors.16 political constructions introduced to undermine existing administrative and political unities, particularly How are Combined Authorities progressing? based on regions. However, this view has been The roll-out of policy for CAs has been a slow countered by the second driver: research to find and bumpy ride. In part this has been because there more policy evidence. Much of this research has has been no clarity from central government on been undertaken by the OECD,12 which has shown policy objectives, even though the proposal has that where there is alignment between economic been espoused in much the same form by three geography and democratically accountable governments in a row – Labour from 2007 onwards, Town & Country Planning March 2017 97 the Coalition from 2010, and now Conservative from governance framework for that item, rather than 2015. The voluntary approaches established by having a series of separate meetings. the Labour Government were speeded up by the No other part of England apart from Teesside has creation of new approximate economic geographies had this type of continuity and pattern of working, through Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in although some have a basis of joint working through 2010. Some of these new LEPs replicated old other initiatives, such as Greater Birmingham’s work county boundaries, but there were enough new on transport. formations to provide a platform for further reform. In other areas, such as in the former county of Each government has used mechanisms of Avon, joint working has never been as strong as incentivisation, outwardly based on local self- in Greater Manchester. The new West of England determination but managed centrally and, at times, Combined Authority is going ahead without North competitively between different government Somerset, one of the four former local authority departments concerned about powers and funding members of Avon. However, the West of England slipping away through devolution. The processes of initiative does demonstrate that CAs are not just negotiation have been opaque and have sometimes a consideration for urban areas. A CA was also appeared to be without leadership in Whitehall.17 proposed in Lincolnshire, but the proposal has LEPs have been a major mechanism for central subsequently fallen by the wayside in favour of a control at local level. Established outside local county-promoted unitary council. In East Anglia government, they have been steered by central there have been several different propositions for government with existing or former civil servant joint working, although only one has gone ahead, sponsors or board members managing the EU and for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. While this government budgets provided through growth and reunites the former county of Cambridgeshire as devolution deals. LEPs have never been formalised it was prior to 1998, when Peterborough was through legislation and have already gone beyond created as a unitary authority, it has taken