County council to consider ditching bid to join combined authority

Warwickshire County Council is set to drop its bid to join the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) after concluding it would be impossible to hold a public consultation in time for the Government to make orders before WMCA’s next mayoral election in May 2024.

A report to Warwickshire’s cabinet the week said the county should not join WMCA but would remain an active non-constituent member.

This allows Warwickshire to undertake joint work with WMCA where necessary but without being part of the political structure.

The report said the Government would have demanded a formal application to join WMCA - including the summary of responses to an eight-week public consultation exercise - by mid-October, a timetable that could not be met.

Warwickshire officers worked on the “potential extensive benefits and also risks that full constituent membership” would bring but it became apparent that it was “not possible to complete the complex work required and undertake a robust, credible public consultation within the timeframe set by Government”.

They also found that adding two-tier Warwickshire to WMCA - whose other members are all unitaries - would bring “a level of complexity” including how the five districts would be represented.

Benefits that could flow from Warwickshire working more closely with WMCA, but not joining it, could include collective working on net zero, closer working on transport - with the potential for extension of ticketing arrangements - and support for initiatives such as development of the Coventry & Warwickshire Gigafactory site and a potential Levelling Up Zone.

Matt Western, the Labour MP for Warwick & Leamington, had raised a 1,000-signatures petition against Warwickshire joining WMCA in which he said: “There is no appetite amongst Warwickshire residents to be ruled by [an elected] mayor almost 30 miles away and have this decision imposed upon them. It will also be hugely expensive for Warwickshire taxpayers – membership is expected to cost Warwickshire County Council £650,000 per year.”

Mark Smulian