Just what has the mayor achieved?

WHEN the North of Tyne devolution deal and elected mayor were announced, many of the opinion-formers in the business world, media and PR sector and upper echelons of the public sector in our region were keen to hail the news as “transformational” for the North of Tyne.

Yet a year on from the election of Jamie Driscoll, it is difficult to see much sign of the promised transformation and few in the region can point to many substantial achievements to date.

This week’s launch of a “staged economic recovery plan” by the North East Covid19 Economic Response Group – the mayor and colleagues on the North of Tyne and North East Combined Authorities and the North East Local Economic Partnership – has at last given the mayor’s communications team something to communicate.

Reading through its 12 pages, I am struck by the lack of specific actions, targets and outcomes. Much of it consists of “asks of government” along with graphs and charts showing the admittedly gravely worrying economic impact of Covid about to hit the region. The remainder is painfully short on detail.

Its medium-term plans include initial planning of longterm responses. In the long term, regional transformation nirvana will be attained but I can’t find much substance beyond vague and aspirational talk of innovation, sectoral support and help to retrain people made redundant.

I can’t see there’s an obvious plan for transforming the region’s economy and transforming the lives of its people. A pledge that “70% of new jobs will be good jobs” appears to suggest the rest won’t be.

It’s not just Covid-19’s aftermath which will have a major impact. That of a no-deal Brexit is hinted at, with mention of “a strategic working group to co-ordinate internationalisation” and “completion of our proposals to facilitate trade through a free zone.”

Despite the marginalised mayor’s Momentum leanings, it is a Conservative-Labour coalition calling the shots.

Still, it’s not all bad news. The North of Tyne Combined Authority has just agreed a long-term lease of a floor of a new prestige office building at the Helix – keeping the mayor, his left-wing policy advisers and his communications team accommodated in comfort pushing pens and shuffling papers as the economic crisis hits. Coun Greg Stone, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on devolution, Newcastle Council