West Yorkshire Combined Authority

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) is the combined authority for West Yorkshire in England. It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 on 1 April 2014. It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. The metro-mayor of the authority is Tracy Brabin.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority
West Yorkshire within England
Type
Type
HousesUnicameral
Term limits
None
History
Founded1 April 2014
Preceded byWest Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority
Leadership
Chair
Susan Hinchcliffe
Vice-chair
Tim Swift
Structure
Seats10 members
CommitteesDistrict Engagement
Governance and Audit
Investment
Overview and Scrutiny
Transport
Elections
Indirect election
Last election
1 April 2014
Meeting place
Wellington House, 40-50 Wellington Street
Leeds
Website
www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk

History

The abolition of West Yorkshire County Council in 1986 left the county without a single authority covering the whole area, although some council functions including archive services and Trading Standards continued to be provided jointly, through West Yorkshire Joint Services, and the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and West Yorkshire Police continued to operate across the county.

Since April 2007 the Leeds City Region Partnership has evolved to coordinate activities across the Leeds City Region, which includes Barnsley in South Yorkshire, the City of York and three districts of North Yorkshire, as well as the whole of West Yorkshire. Strategic local governance decisions have been made by the joint committee of the Leeds City Region Leaders Board.[1] A multi-area agreement was established in 2008 and since 2011 economic development has been supported by the Leeds City Region LEP, which forms a business-led local enterprise partnership.[2]

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority was proposed in 2012 as part of a "city deal".[3][4] The combined authority covered only West Yorkshire, and not the other areas of the Leeds City Region. In order to create a combined authority the local authorities had to undertake a governance review and produce a scheme of their proposals. A consultation ran from November 2013 to January 2014 and the responses were published in February 2014.[5] The combined authority was established on 1 April 2014, following statutory approval on 31 March 2014.[6][7]

In June 2017 plans for the combined authority to re-brand as the Leeds City Region Combined Authority were shelved, as Bradford councillor Simon Cooke said it would "piss a few people off". Peter Box, then leader of Wakefield Council, agreed with Simon Cooke's opinion.[8]

The combined authority originally did not have a mayor.[9] The constituent members of the WYCA supported a mayor covering all of Yorkshire, but the UK government refused this idea.[10][11] The Mayor of West Yorkshire position was agreed in March 2020, the role's first election took place in May 2021.[12][13][14]

Membership

Five members are leaders of the constituent authorities, with three additional district councillor members and two non-constituent partner members.[15][16]

Name Membership Position within nominating authority Nominating authority
Tracy Brabin Constituent Mayor of West Yorkshire West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Susan Hinchcliffe Constituent Leader of the Council Bradford City Council
Tim Swift Constituent Leader of the Council Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Cathy Scott Constituent Leader of the Council Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council
James Lewis Constituent Leader of the Council Leeds City Council
Denise Jeffrey Constituent Leader of the Council Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
Clare Douglas Non-constituent Leader of the Council City of York Council
Mark Roberts Non-constituent Chair Leeds City Region LEP

Structure

The Combined Authority operates through three committees: the West Yorkshire and York Investment Committee, Transport Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Transport Committee replaced the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority. A Governance and Audit Committee also advises the authority in relation to financial management and governance.[17] Public transport policy is delivered through the Metro brand, which was previously the public facing identity of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.

Other roles

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority took over the responsibility of payment for the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers in 2015.[18]

References
  1. "Leaders Board: Introduction". Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  2. "About Us: Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)". Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  3. "Proposal: A Leeds City Region Deal" (PDF). July 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  4. "Six biggest English cities get extra powers". BBC News. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  5. "Summary of responses to consultations on proposals to establish the Combined Authorities" (PDF). Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  6. "Scheme for the Establishment of a Combined Authority for West Yorkshire" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  7. "The West Yorkshire Combined Authority Order 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  8. Beever, Susie (30 June 2017). "Supercouncil shelve Leeds City Region rebranding - because it would 'p*** people off'". huddersfieldexaminer. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  9. Crowe, Brian (12 February 2019). "What impact have the Metro Mayors had around the UK? | Business Leader News". Business Leader. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  10. Bounds, Andy (15 January 2020). "Councils sign up to South Yorkshire devolution". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  11. Parsons, Rob (30 September 2019). "Devolution deal for West Yorkshire could be signed in weeks after 'constructive' talks with government". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  12. "West Yorkshire £1.8bn devolution deal agreed". BBC News. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  13. Westwood, Andy (12 March 2020). "Why Government plans to level up pose a challenge for metro mayor candidates". Centre for Cities. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  14. Parsons, Rob (13 March 2020). "West Yorkshire metro mayor can ask council tax payers to help fund key projects". Yorkshire Evening Post. JPI Media. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  15. "New combined authority to hold first public meeting". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  16. "West Yorkshire Combined Authority". Westyorks-ca.gov.uk. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  17. "Untitled Page". westyorks-ca.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  18. "Facilities for Apprenticeship Grant for Employers: Financial Year 2015 to 2016" (PDF). www.gov.uk. Skills Funding Agency. March 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
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