Unfortunately, the Committee did not tackle the situation where a Local Enterprise Partnership has greater powers than the Mayor. Though, of course, it is likely that one of the politicians currently on the LEP will become the devolved Mayor and will serve himself or herself AND the LEP as well as their own councils and us the common people!
But what a spanner could be thrown in the works if an Independent stood and won!
“Potential for confusion
…
78. From what we have seen and heard, we are very concerned that the public will not understand who will be responsible for what in their local area.
The Devolution Bill makes a distinction between the powers of the mayor and those of the combined authority which translates into the mayor and the combined authority being responsible for different services.
For example, in Greater Manchester, the interim mayor is responsible for transport, but not health, which is within Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s remit.
Some witnesses argued that this is not a problem in London where the Mayor of London’s responsibilities differ from those of the London Boroughs. But Alexandra Jones, the Chief Executive of the Centre for Cities, said this will need to be tackled as part of the “public education programme” around devolution and Professor Copus said that “the mayor, counties and the districts have to be prepared to point people in the right direction”.
When we put our concerns to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, he said that it would be “for that mayor to make very clear the platform on which they stand and the things they are doing in office”.
East Devon Watch 