West Midlands Metro Mayor: Facts & Figures

In May 2017 the West Midlands will elect its first metro mayor. The metro mayor will have control over the whole West Midlands combined authority area. They will work with existing city leaders to take forward their strategic plan. Three of the mayoral candidates (Andy Street, Beverley Nielsen and James Burn) attended our Annual Conference last month for the first hustings of the campaign. Their views and ideas regarding sustainability were shared and challenged but at this early stage, many of their priorities were yet to be defined. Now is the time to influence them on what the West Midlands’ people really want from their mayor. In May 2016 Centre for Cities commissioned ComRes to find out what issues the residents of West Midlands think should be top priority for their new metro mayor. These were based on the powers they will enjoy, as well as wider priorities. The respondents were also asked whether or not they wanted to see more powers handed down to the metro mayor. Health care provision has been classified as top priority for local politicians, with 31% agreeing that this is the most important priority. Other issues such as housing and education are also high up on the ranking. Additionally, more than half of adults from the West Midlands (53%) agree that the new metro mayor should have greater powers than council leaders. More details about ComRes and West Midlands’ economic and political outlook can be found on Centre for Cities webpage.