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Date proposed for Manchester mayoral elections

The first-ever mayor of Greater Manchester will be elected on Thursday 4 May 2017.

The first-ever mayor of Greater Manchester will be elected on Thursday 4 May 2017, Northern Powerhouse Minister James Wharton announced on 1 February 2016.

The Greater Manchester devolution deal was the first to be agreed with the government, and paves the way for significant powers to be passed to the area from Westminster – a key part of building the Northern Powerhouse.

The new mayor will provide the strong local accountability needed with these new powers being devolved.

It means local people will know who is responsible, and will be able to hold them to account through the ballot box.

Northern Powerhouse Minister James Wharton said:

Building a Northern powerhouse is central to our plans to rebalance the economy – key to that is handing powers back to local areas.

Greater Manchester are leading the way and on 4 May 2017 local people will have a direct say over who they want to run their city-region.

Six other areas have already signed devolution deals, and with our change in the law to devolve even more powers from Westminster, I’m confident many other areas will soon follow suit.

Devolution revolution

The devolution revolution is already in full swing – in addition to Manchester, devolution deals have also been agreed with local leaders in the North East, Tees Valley, Sheffield, the West Midlands, Liverpool and Cornwall.

Mr Wharton today laid an order in Parliament to enable elections for the Greater Manchester mayor to go ahead – the first move under the newCities and Local Government Devolution Act.

It means the first elections will take place on 4 May 2017, with subsequent elections in May 2020 and then every 4 years after that.

This will give local people the chance to vote for their new mayor, who will chair the new Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

It will mean a range of new powers will be devolved to Greater Manchester including:

  • control of a £300 million Housing Investment Fund
  • powers over strategic planning, including the power to create a statutory spatial framework for Greater Manchester. This will need to be approved by a unanimous vote of the mayor’s cabinet
  • responsibility for a devolved and consolidated transport budget, with a multi-year settlement to be agreed at the next Spending Review, and responsibility for franchised bus services (subject to consultation by Greater Manchester), and for integrated smart ticketing across all local modes of transport
  • control of a reformed earn back deal, within the current envelope of £30 million a year for 30 years – this gives Greater Manchester the certainty they need to extend the Metrolink to Trafford Park
  • take on the role currently covered by the police and crime commissioner

The mayor will also have responsibility for Greater Manchester Police as the new police and crime commissioner, and so elections to that post previously scheduled for this May will now be cancelled.

Further information

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority comprises:

  • Bolton
  • Bury
  • Manchester
  • Oldham
  • Rochdale
  • Salford
  • Stockport
  • Tameside
  • Trafford
  • Wigan

James Wharton today laid regulations in the House of Commons which, subject to parliamentary clearance, mean elections will be held on 4 May 2017.

The mayor of Greater Manchester will hold the following new powers:

  • control of a £300 million Housing Investment Fund
  • powers over strategic planning, including the power to create a statutory spatial framework for Greater Manchester. This will need to be approved by a unanimous vote of the mayor’s cabinet
  • responsibility for a devolved and consolidated transport budget, with a multi-year settlement to be agreed at the next Spending Review, and responsibility for franchised bus services (subject to consultation by Greater Manchester), and for integrated smart ticketing across all local modes of transport
  • control of a reformed earn back deal, within the current envelope of £30 million a year for 30 years – this gives Greater Manchester the certainty they need to extend the Metrolink to Trafford Park
  • take on the role currently covered by the police and crime commissioner

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority will receive the following powers:

  • responsibility for securing integrated business support services, including through the Growth Accelerator, Manufacturing Advice Service and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Export Advice
  • control of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers in Greater Manchester and power to re-shape and re-structure the further education provision within Greater Manchester
  • control of an expanded Working Well pilot, with central government funding linked to good performance up to a fixed DEL limit in return for risk sharing
  • opportunity to be a joint commissioner with Department for Work and Pensions for the next phase of the Work Programme
  • the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Greater Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups will be invited to develop a business plan for the integration of health and social care across Greater Manchester, based on control of existing health and social care budgets
Channel website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities

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