West Midlands Combined Authority
| West Midlands Combined Authority | |
|---|---|
 |
|
West Midlands Authority within England
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Unicameral |
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Term limits
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None |
| History | |
| Founded | 17 June 2016 |
| Preceded by | West Midlands County Council |
| Leadership | |
|
Chair
|
Bob Sleigh , Conservative
|
|
Vice-Chair
|
Pete Lowe , Labour
|
|
Chief Executive
|
Dr Martin Reeves
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| Structure | |
| Seats | 7 members + Mayor |
 |
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Political groups
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| Elections | |
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Direct election Supplementary vote (SV) |
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Last election
|
Mayoral Election May 2017 |
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
| 16 Summer Lane Birmingham |
|
| Website | |
| www |
|
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Greater Birmingham Combined Authority, or simply Greater Birmingham, is a combined authority for the West Midlands metropolitan county in England. It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. The authority formally came into being on 17 June 2016.
The authority consists of the seven local authorities of West Midlands as constituent members, three Local Enterprise Partnerships as non-constituent members, and several local authorities covered by the LEPs as non-constituent members.
The membership of the combined authority is expected to be as follows:
The abolition of the West Midlands County Council in 1986 left the county without a single authority covering the whole area, although some council functions continued to be provided jointly, through the West Midlands Joint Committee, the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, West Midlands Police (initially under the oversight of the West Midlands Police Authority and currently overseen by the directly elected West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner) and West Midlands Fire Service.
The authority's initial priorities will involve co-ordinating the city-region to act as one place on certain issues, such as international promotion and investment; reforming public services such as mental health services; and improving internal and external transport links.
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is the executive body of the WMCA that oversees transportation (road, rail, bus and Metro) within the metropolitan county. The organisation carries over the previous responsibilities of Centro and the WMITA. TfWM currently has similar powers to Transport for Greater Manchester; from 2017, TfWM will take over responsibility for franchising bus routes, alongside the ability to set standardised fares across all operators, similar to Transport for London.
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Wikipedia