Burnham's plan could give us Team East - mayor

The East of England's only directly elected regional mayor says Andy Burnham's promise of increased devolution could result in more mayors in the region.

Paul Bristow, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, told the BBC's Politics East programme that he had a vision of local mayors fighting as "Team East" for increased investment.

Burnham, who is widely expected to become prime minister, spoke this week of rolling out devolution across England with more power for directly elected regional mayors.

But not everyone is keen on the idea, with one Cambridgeshire MP warning that the county already had enough tiers of bureaucracy.

While other regions have several directly elected mayors representing a number of local authorities, Bristow is currently the only one in the East.

The government has drawn up plans to create a mayor for Norfolk and Suffolk and another for Essex in two years' time, with others to follow.

Bristow works with Cambridgeshire County Council and district councils who retain their traditional powers.

He says his current powers give him responsibility for transport, mainly buses at the moment, but he expects to soon be given some powers around trains and roads.

"We also have a skills budget but also oversee things such as infrastructure, and planning, and a little bit of housing."

His budget from 2025 to 2029 is about £330m for revenue and the same amount for capital.

But he adds that while that may sound like a lot of money, there are controls on how the money is spent.

"I've got to spend it in specific areas on skills and on a particular core of young people. And I don't have the power to shape that around the individual needs as a region."

Mayors also have the power to raise local taxes. His predecessor introduced a precept to fund extra bus services which Bristow has maintained. There has also been talk in the past of introducing a tourist tax, something which other mayors are planning.

The government has hinted that in the future mayors might get even more powers.

Bristow talks about fighting for extra funding and regenerating Cambridgeshire but says at the "very top" of his list is improving Peterborough city centre.

He is particularly excited about the £70m regeneration of the area around the station.

"I want this to be the first thing that people see when they come to Peterborough, the heart of the East of England.

"It is a confident city, a city on the move."

Bristow is also hoping to put more investment into a nearby brownfield site.

"I want to set up a mayoral development corporation (with) money from government and new powers to compulsory purchase land," he said.

Bristow says he hopes Burnham will keep to his promises on devolution and press ahead with the creation of new mayors for the East and give them, as well as him, more powers.

"It is a real opportunity," he said.

He says compared to other regions, the East is poorly funded, particularly when it comes to infrastructure.

"I want to see mayors in Norfolk and Suffolk, mayors in Essex, mayors in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.

"So we can be Team East, like those mayors of Team North."

Pippa Heylings, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, says she is all for taking power and money away from Whitehall and giving it to the regions but it should be going to local councils who have the ability to improve things but are desperately short of money.

She says an elected mayor is an unnecessary extra layer of bureaucracy.

"In Cambridgeshire we've got the city, district and county councils. Then we've got the Greater Cambridge Partnership, then the Cambridge Growth Company and then the mayoralty," she told Politics East.

"Now we're going to have a development corporation that will duplicate the mayor's powers and those of local authorities and take planning powers away."

The public may also be confused about the need for a mayor. In last year's elections the turnout was just 32.9%.

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BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday 5 July at 10:00 GMT on BBC One in the East of England, and will be available after broadcast on BBC iPlayer.

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