A practical toolkit for emerging combined authorities
This practial guide will be of specific interest for local areas seeking to establish a combined authority, or those in devolved areas (especially governance professionals) seeking to explore and refine their relationship with Government following new legislation.
Creating and negotiating a devolution deal involves a plurality of possible geographies, strategies and governance models, where the outcome is always subject to change.
Emerging combined authorities (CAs) face a number of challenges given the range and complexity of the issues they seek to address.
One such challenge involves the balance of power between local areas pursuing greater independence in decision-making and central Government creating restricted conditions for devolution ‘deals’. With the news that the long-awaited Devolution and Local Recovery White Paper will now be delivered as the Levelling-up White Paper later this year, the Government’s plans and priorities for devolution remain unclear.
This paper will be an update on the work CfGS carried out on devolution issues in 2016 and 2017 which involved the production of three pieces of national research:
- “Devo how, devo why” (2016)
- “Cards on the table” (2017)
- “Devolution: charting the way” (2017)
This research has been developed alongside the Combined Authorities Governance Network (CAGN) – a network established and facilitated by CfGS through the LGA’s sector-support programme, funded by HM Government.
About the Author: Kate Grigg
Kate works across the CfGS research and consultancy programmes, supporting projects in local government and the corporate sector, and facilitating the combined authorities goverance network.
