‘We’ve got our act together’ MAYOR’S FIRST 100 DAYS Street optimistic more powers are heading to region ‘with his foot in Whitehall’s door’
matic and recognises he and his combined authority colleagues – crucially the seven local councils – are doing a good job.
“Nobody asked us to present a second devolution application. I just went down there after the election and the government has responded as we wanted. They understand that as a region we’ve got our act together, our economy is growing pretty fast and we can deliver.”
The West Midlands is asking for direct control of the £100 million skills budget and more powers to develop housing on unused land. There are also bids in for major transport investment in rail, roads and tram lines.
“We don’t know what the negotiations will lead to, but they will be concluded by the budget [in November]. I’m feeling really optimistic that we’ve got our foot in the door when others appear not to have done so.”
During the campaign he had billed himself as the businessman who would work with the Conservative government to secure the best deal.
It is remarkable that given the poor election result for the Tories and the distraction of forming a coalition and negotiating Brexit while dealing with a series of terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire, that this devolution deal is being done. Otherwise it has been a steady, if unspectacular, start for the new mayor.
Mr Street has been busy manoeuvring his own staff into place including chief executive Deborah Cadman, who starts next month, and the transport director Anne Shaw, who will be responsible for tackling traffic congestion. He is still yet to announce directors to run the skills and housing agendas. He has no problem increasing the wage bill at this stage as those people will need to produce business cases and secure funding and investment for the region.
“I’m more than happy for this to be examined in years to come to say has it paid for itself many times over,” Mr Street said.
But in his manifesto he helpfully set up ten goals for his first 100 days and argues he has achieved all of them.
“I like to think that by August 13, and this may sound indulgent, we will have got ten out of ten,” he said.
The final one, this Thursday, August 10, will see Brexit minister Robin Walker take part in a mini-summit with local business leaders at the Aston
Mayor Andy Street, left
University Business School. Some of the points were quite simple to achieve – he has held two public “Ask Andy” question time events in Coventry and Walsall, announced a mayor’s community charity weekend for 2018, organised a summit with faith leaders for November to discuss community integration, and agreed action plans on transport, housing and jobs. He has also met with Theresa May to discuss further devolution, led a trade delegation to Canada and confirmed the investment in traffic congestion measures. He also managed to recruit more than 1,000 potential “mayor’s mentors” who will be matched with aspiring young people to support them in their careers. But the real test will be major change. One big pledge was to get work under way on reopening the Camp Hill Chords train line to Moseley and Kings Heath by the time his first term ends in 2020. “I know what I said on that. It will either be on my political tombstone or my reelection address,” joked Mr Street. He added: “We’ve got to pin Network Rail down on this. It’s in the plans everyone is supportive.” driving