Warwickshire’s Labour leader has doubts over West Midlands Combined Authority timescales

Labour's leader on Warwickshire County Council believes there is “clear agreement” that joining the West Midlands Combined Authority cannot be properly assessed ahead of next year’s mayoral elections.

Controversial plans for the county to become constituent members, which would lead to the region being covered by a directly elected mayor, are to be assessed by professionals at the county council after the cabinet gave the go-ahead for that work to continue on Thursday.

In a softening of the language around the recommendation to cabinet, the plan is now described as an “opportunity” for the council having previously been dubbed an “option”.

Recognition that it would join “as a two-tier authority area” was also weaved in amid fears that joining could lead to the demise of district and borough councils – none of the current full members have two tiers of local government – while the work is now set to consider “other options that may be available” as well as full membership.

Nevertheless, a timetable featuring a governance review and public consultation has been laid out with the aim of taking a decision on whether to apply by October, the deadline which would allow Warwickshire residents to vote for the next West Midlands mayor in May 2024 should the authority join.

County leader Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Con, Stour & the Vale) vowed the work would not be rushed.

“What I am not prepared to do is curtail any of that for the sake of speed – we need to do the job, do it properly and manage the outcome fairly,” she said.

However, Labour group leader Councillor John Holland (Warwick West) could not envisage that happening so quickly.

“The test is whether Warwickshire residents will be better or worse off – if they are better off we support it, if they are not, we don't,” he said.

“Keeping an open mind for the future seems to me to be common sense and the correct way forward.

“The problem here is the fixed date for the election of the mayor next year and whether we could complete a fair procedure by then. I think there is clear agreement that we couldn’t.

"That the duty to consult, certainly under the present law, is an extremely important one because any decision made by the county council would have cost implications for the districts and boroughs.

“We cannot go out to consultation unless we have something to consult on so the cost, if any, for the districts and boroughs needs to be known.

“Then we need to look at the benefits and they will be difficult to quantify because they will depend on government policy and strategy.”

He added that alongside parish and town councils, a Police & Crime Commissioner and MPs that another section of government could “add a layer of confusion rather than clarity” and said he did not think district and borough councils should be signed up to a financial cost "without their complete agreement".

He added: “I can see there may be benefits but I think we need to be clear what they are.

“When we look at what the West Midlands Combined Authority has actually achieved, many of those things have been achieved in Warwickshire as well and other things could be done if we wished.”

Cllr Holland went on to express frustration over perceptions that not joining could see Warwickshire miss out on government-funded projects, particularly around economic prosperity.

“The really big unknown in this is the funnelling through of government money," he said.

"If the secretary of state is only going to fund money through a combined authority, that seems to me a sort of blackmail hanging over us.

“One of the common themes from the Local Government Association (LGA) Conference last week was that councillors from all parts of England and all political parties have the view that we are elected because we know best about our area and we should be making the decisions.

“There is a lot of unhappiness about having to bid for money, which costs money, and not necessarily succeeding. We are elected to make those decisions.”