A target to create a new mayor for the Thames Valley by May 2027 has been rejected as being too early by the government, in a move that would unite Berkshire with Oxford and Swindon.
The Labour government is encouraging councils throughout England to negotiate with each other to create new power bases called ‘strategic authorities’.
The authorities already exist in the West of England, the Midlands and Greater Manchester, but much of England has not been reorganised yet.
The proposed Thames Valley strategic authority would unite Berkshire with Oxfordshire and Swindon, have a ‘combined authority’ made up of the council leaders, and be led by an elected mayor.
While an expression of interest to the government to create this new authority was submitted before Christmas, it has been revealed that a target to create the authority in just over a year’s time has been judged as too ambitious.
This was mentioned during a meeting of the Berkshire Prosperity Board, which is attended by the leaders of the six unitary councils in the county.
Dexter Smith (Conservative, Colnbrook with Poyle), the leader of Slough Borough Council, said: “We put in an expression o interest to government for creation of a mayoral strategic authority, we’ve had a response to that, which is the government saying that they think the target date that we’ve set ourselves of May 2027 is too early, so we’re now considering that response.”
He said this in response to a question by Andrew Hill, a Maidenhead resident, about the council’s paying £8,000 each, and a total of £48,000, to continue works on the local government reorganisation.
Mr Hill asked: “Recent reporting in local media has already highlighted that councils across Berkshire are being asked to contribute another £8,000 each to support the work on a proposed Thames Valley mayoral authority.
“Now £8,000 may not sound a large amount in the context of council budgets, but it’s still taxpayers’ money, and taxpayers reasonably expect clearer explanations.”
He then asked for a timetable for what the next steps will be.
Mr Hill said: “You appear to be under a lot of pressure to progress this rapidly. Is that the case?”
Paul Patterson, the director of devolution for Berkshire, said that a further expression of interest will be sent to the government, aimed at making the case that the Thames Valley should be one of the first places in the country to become a strategic authority.
On the £48,000 budget uplift, Mr Patterson said: “The uplift for the budget is from the existing Prosperity Board Budget, it’s not requesting any additional funds.
“This initial budget is to support the initial external support needed for the particular bespoke pieces of work required in developing the business case as we progress this forward.”
These topics were discussed at a meeting of the Berkshire Prosperity Board at Reading Borough Council’s offices on Monday, March 16.
