Conversation with Tracy Brabin, Mayor Of West Yorkshire

The Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, was in conversation with one of the co-convenors of the Commission on 2 April to talk about the development of the mayoral system. She talked about the challenges and some ideas for the future. 

Tracy Brabin was first elected in 2021 to the newly constituted West Yorkshire combined authority which includes Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, and is the only woman who is a directly elected metro mayor. She has responsibility for transport, policing (the role ‘police and crime commissioner’ is included) housing, post 19 education and training, and finance. She does not have power over health, unlike other metro mayors, as this had been resisted by local council leaders. She said that West Yorkshire was polycentric as each local authority has a strong identity. 

One of the challenges of getting things done is the complex financing structure which means that the mayor has to bid to get funding to carry out projects, which is both bureaucratic and costly. There is no budget for the central office and administration so funding for this, her 850 staff, has to be top sliced. There is no devolved funding for leisure or culture so she has to go to central government for even local developments like a leisure centre. 

The mayor has taken over control of the buses and aims to have a mass transit system in place by 2028. 

25% of the new homes being built in the region are affordable despite the fact that the mayor has no strategic planning powers. 

The mayor does have the power to impose a precept but has decided not to do this yet. 

She has worked with businesses to reallocate the unused apprenticeship levy for training and redistributed the proceeds of crime money to local schemes. 

For the future Tracy Brabin would like more powers over post 16 education and a fully devolved training budget. Currently skills budgets are in five different streams. 

More clarity over powers to improve local services would speed things up, as it had taken three years to bring the buses back into public control. 

More power over affordable homes would help provide the right housing in the right place for the right people. 

The government has agreed to Level 4 devolution which should be implemented in the coming year and will lead to increased local powers and accountability. 

Other ideas for investing in local empowerment included a roof tax on new build houses and a business rate uplift. 

West Yorkshire combined authority has local elections on 2 May and the future of the region will be decided then.