North East Mayoral Combined Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024

Considered in Grand Committee

Moved by

That the Grand Committee do consider the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024.

My Lords, with the agreement of the Committee and its Chairman, I would like to say a few words in tribute to Paul Rowsell, who was head of the governance reform and democracy unit within DLUHC. He died suddenly on Thursday on his way to work at the age of 71. Paul had worked as the head of that unit since it was formed in 2011. Before that, he had dealt with all things to do with local authority governance since the 1990s.

Paul and I worked together on a weekly basis in the early 2000s on the Wiltshire unitary bid; he became a good friend of mine, and I hope I became a good friend of his. I will miss him terribly—including his not sitting behind me today. Paul was a wonderful public servant and he will be very sorely missed, not just by his colleagues in DLUHC but by the many people in local government whom he met and supported over the years. May Paul rest in peace.

With permission, I would like to respond to that tribute. I have been in local government for nearly 30 years now, and I knew Mr Rowsell for most of that time. He was a formidable public servant, as the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, said. He was one of the great experts on local government finance—there are not many of those. Paul probably knew more about local government finance than anybody else in the country. I remember the trepidation that you would feel—I was a deputy leader of the LGA for many years—when you went into a meeting with him because you knew, however good your arguments were and however well you had been briefed by the LGA, he would pick it apart in five minutes and decimate your argument.

In spite of his tough approach to those of us who came up against him in meetings, he was very much a trusted member of the team in DLUHC and its predecessor departments—it has had many names over the years. I first encountered him way back when we were working on some of the “best value” initiatives. He was trusted, effective, incredibly knowledgeable and a consummate professional. His public service to this country in the local government department—that is what I will call it—was exemplary. I hope that he will rest in peace and that, for those who knew him personally, his memory will be a blessing. I thank him from our side of the Committee for his wonderful service to local government.

My Lords, it is deeply sad news to learn of Paul Rowsell’s death. I think back to the advice that he gave me during the passage of the Localism Act in the period of the coalition Government from 2010 to 2015. He had the ability to listen, to explain and to stay very polite, even if I was completely wrong on the issue. He had the ability to make things clear so that the understanding of those of us who were dealing with legislation was improved. It is a sad day for local government. He will be sorely missed. I appreciated his presence as part of the Bill team so many times. You knew that if Paul was leading a team, the work had been done and was of an enormously high, professional standard. It is with deep regret that we say that we will miss Paul profoundly.

My Lords, the purpose of this order is to implement the devolution deal agreed between the Government and seven councils across the north-east—County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland—on 28 December 2022.

We have been working closely with these seven councils. On 2 February 2024, they consented to the making of the order. The institutions that are to be abolished by the order—the two existing combined authorities and the North of Tyne Mayor—consented to the making of this order, which also provides the foundation for the deeper devolution deal for the north-east that we announced in the Budget on 6 March 2024. This trailblazing deal deepens and extends the devolution settlement in the north-east and provides new tools for the future mayor and local leaders to drive regional economic growth.

The order provides for the establishment on 7 May 2024 of the north-east mayoral combined authority, comprising as constituent councils the seven north-east councils. It simultaneously abolishes the existing North East Combined Authority and the North of Tyne Combined Authority, together with the office of Mayor for the North of Tyne. It provides for a new mayor for the whole of the north-east to be elected by local government electors across the area of the seven constituent councils with the first election to take place on 2 May 2024.

That elected mayor will take up office on 7 May with a four-year term ending after the next mayoral election in May 2028. Thereafter, there will be elections every fourth year to be held on the ordinary election day for that year—that is, the first Thursday in May. Following the enactment of the Elections Act 2022, the mayoral election will use the first past the post voting system.

The order provides for significant functions, as agreed in the devolution deal, to be conferred on the new mayoral combined authority. These include functions on housing and regeneration, mayoral development corporations, transport, skills and adult education. I will briefly summarise each of these functions in turn.

On housing and regeneration, the mayoral combined authority will have powers to be exercised concurrently with Homes England, enabling the combined authority, working closely with Homes England, to improve the supply and quality of housing and facilitate the regeneration of the north-east. The mayor will have powers to compulsorily purchase land, with any such decision requiring consent from the constituent council member whose local government area contains any part of the proposed land.

The order confers the power to designate mayoral development areas in the combined authority area to be exercised by the mayor individually. This power is designed to support the regeneration of strategic sites, though it is worth noting that, although this designation is the first step towards establishing a mayoral development corporation, a further order will then be necessary to create such a body. Decisions on mayoral development areas require the consent of respective constituent council members whose council areas contains any part of the designated area and of the Northumberland National Park Authority if any part of the designated area sits within the national park.

The order also provides for the conferral of a duty on the mayor to produce a spatial development strategy for the area. However, the conferral of this duty is dependent on there first being a unanimous vote in favour by all seven constituent council members of the combined authority.

On transport, the mayoral combined authority will be the local transport authority for the whole of the north-east. Nexus, the passenger transport executive for Tyne and Wear, which is an executive body of the two current combined authorities, will become an executive body of the new mayoral combined authority. The mayor will also have control over a consolidated and devolved transport budget, with the power to pay grants to the constituent councils in relation to the exercise of their highways functions to improve and maintain roads and to bus service operators for eligible bus services operating within the north-east area.

The order further provides for the combined authority to take on adult education functions for the area, alongside the management of its adult education budget from August 2024, following the north-east successfully meeting a series of readiness conditions.

As previously indicated, a number of these different functions will have elements for exercise by the mayor individually. Provision is therefore also made for the mayor to be able to issue a precept to fund the exercise of these functions if the mayor wishes to do so.

Alongside the transfer of the various policy functions that I have already mentioned, this order also provides for the combined authority’s governance arrangements. Each constituent council is to nominate one of its members to be a constituent council member on the combined authority. In addition, each constituent council is to nominate two other members, each of whom may act as a substitute if its nominated member is unavailable. It is also open to the new mayoral combined authority to appoint associate members and to invite nominations for non-constituent members under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.

The mayor is to be the chair of the combined authority and is required to appoint one of the constituent council members to be the deputy mayor. Whenever the deputy mayor is required to act as the mayor, one of their substitute members may act in their place for any proceedings. The combined authority is required, under Schedule 5A to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, to have at least one overview and scrutiny committee and one audit committee. These are appointed by the combined authority and consist of an equal number of representatives from each of the constituent councils that are not members of the combined authority.

The order also includes constitutional provisions reflecting how decision-making for the powers conferred will be operated and on the role of the mayor. It also provides for the establishment of an independent remuneration panel to recommend the allowances for the mayor.