A new mayor: what it will mean for you
GREATER Manchester will elect its first ever mayor on Thursday, May 4, – but for many of us, the powers and purpose of the role may still seem a little unclear.
So on the eve of the vote we have created this handy guide to the mayoralty, how the role came into being and what exactly they will and won’t be able to do... Why are we getting a mayor? George Osborne refused to devolve any substantial levels of power to the region in 2014 unless we had an elected mayor to go with it. His reasons – publicly at least – were two-fold.
Firstly, with power must come accountability.
Secondly, he believes the region will benefit from having a London or New York-style figurehead to go out and raise our profile, to speak on our behalf.
There is a third probable reason as well: Osborne may well have seen this as an opportunity for the Tories to get a better toehold in Greater Manchester.
Why are we getting a mayor when Manchester said no?
The Manchester mayoral referendum in 2011 would have created a role not vastly different to that of council leader, as with the position currently held by Paul Dennett in Salford.
This new position is completely different.
Its scope covers the whole of Greater Manchester with new powers over policing, fire, housebuilding and transport, as well as influence over other areas – such as health and social care – and a considerable voice on the national stage.
This is the first time a role like this has ever been created but it is broadly comparable with the London mayor.
What are the mayor’s powers over police and fire?
The job currently done by the police commissioner will move to the mayor: so he or she will set the budget, including how much is spent on what.
Current police commissioner Tony Lloyd has hired more community support officers, for example.
The mayor will also set other broad priorities for policing and be accountable, alongside the chief constable, when things go wrong.
The same goes for the fire service, which is currently overseen by councillors on the fire authority.
What are the mayor’s powers over transport?
Broadly speaking: buses and trams.
He or she will have control over bus routes, timetables and fares, and far more power to tell operators what to do.
Essentially it would allow Greater Manchester to create a much more understandable and straightforward bus network, like in London.
The mayor will also have powers over a separate fund agreed by government to pay for transport infrastructure over the next 30 years.
This has already paid for a tram extension to Trafford Park – so you can logically assume the mayor may use it to extend the Metrolink network.
The mayor does not have control of the region’s day-to-day transport budget, however, which includes the running of the trams.
That rests with the ten council leaders, although the mayor will have a vote, too. Can the mayor raise taxes? Yes, to a point. In future, the bit of your council tax bill that refers to the police and fire charges will be referred to as a ‘mayoral precept’ instead, since the mayor will oversee those budgets. How much will the mayor be paid? Council leaders agreed on Friday that the mayor will receive a nonpensionable allowance of £110,000 a year. This is less than the London mayor, who is on £145,000 a year, but more than the £80,000 or so to be paid to the mayors in Merseyside and the West Midlands. However, the panel that recommended Greater Manchester’s figure argued that because uniquely our mayor will also take over fire and policing responsibilities, the higher figure makes sense. Currently the police commissioner is paid £100,000 and the chair of the fire authority more than £30,000 – and both these roles will be scrapped and wrapped into the mayor’s.