Political leaders in the West of England have a “great opportunity” to repair their relationships, the Metro Mayor has said, when leadership in Bristol changes.
The West of England Mayor, Dan Norris | Photo © WECA
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) was put on notice by the government last week (5th March) over the poor relationships between its political leaders, amid other issues.
There have been several high-profile clashes between Metro Mayor Dan Norris and the leaders of the three councils which make up the authority; Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, and Bath & North East Somerset Council.
At a WECA scrutiny committee on Monday 12th March, committee chair Ed Plowden — who said the notice was “disappointing but maybe not surprising” — asked Mr Norris what he would do differently.
Mr Norris said he would “do a reset” and said: “I think there’s a great opportunity now because we are clearly going to have a different political leadership in Bristol, irrespective of the outcome of the elections themselves.”
The position of Bristol’s Mayor Marvin Rees is set to be abolished in May, as the city council switches from a “leader and cabinet” system to a “committee” structure.
The two mayors recently clashed over the feasibility of a London-style underground in Bristol, with the plans ending in stalemate after they were vetoed by Mr Norris.
Mr Norris added: “We have also had a year which has allowed the new South Gloucestershire arrangement to start to get in, where you have joint leaders there. So I think it’s a great opportunity for us to reset and have hopefully new relationships.”
The “best value notice” issued to the combined authority by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities ordered WECA to set up an “independent improvement panel” to tackle a host of issues, from poor relationships between political leaders to “confusion” about what the combined authority does.
Mr Norris insisted “They were issues that were really live when I first arrived — to my horror and shock, if I’m honest, that there was a lot of dysfunctional things going on.
“I don’t think it’s helpful for me, in a public forum, to talk about those because I am very keen that we talk in a way that does not draw attention to our region in a negative way and yet that is what I am afraid seems to happen.
“Other regions have equal challenges to us; other metro mayors have similar challenges to us. But their council leaders and their councillors seem to have a regional focus that doesn’t allow them to damage their region — and I am kind of concerned that we are doing that by some of the things that we do and say.”
Mr Norris said he would do his best but other people needed to too. He said: “Relationships are not one-way things. It’s give and take, isn’t it? And sometimes I felt that it’s been a lot of me giving and the other people taking, and I’ve no doubt that they probably think it’s the other way.
“But the truth is we have to re-look at that, revisit that, and I’m always happy to do that.”
He added: “It’s interesting that this notice is being issued now — and it’s for others to speculate why that might be in a general election year.”
But the chair of WECA’s audit committee, Geoff Gollop, said that the “issues of dysfunctionality” had begun in the autumn of 2021, shortly after Mr Norris was elected.
He added that the audit committee had been already trying to raise concerns about the very issues flagged in the government warning.
Mr Gollop told the meeting: “They have identified and shared exactly the issues that audit committee have been raising.
“It is a real frustration that we have just been ignored and patted on the head and we find ourselves now receiving a notice that we and [the scrutiny committee] have been saying was inevitable.”
He added: “I don’t want to make a choice as to who’s responsible other than to say the political leaders, in the form of a committee, are the ones who can lead.
“The officers can’t resolve the constitution without clear direction. The officers can’t make the local authorities sit down and plan in advance if all the leaders won’t turn up to the pre-meetings to work through.
“So these are the massively fundamental things that are the basic building blocks of the authority being functional and moving forward.”
The three council leaders and the Metro Mayor are set to meet for a WECA committee meeting on Friday 15th March at Aerospace Bristol in Patchway, with the “best value notice” at the top of the agenda.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
