News / West of England Combined Authority
Claims combined authority is seen as ‘white elephant’
Scrutiny councillors in Bristol have vowed to “beef up” their oversight of the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), amid concerns it is seen as a “white elephant that does nothing”.
Trying to probe how the regional organisation operates is like attempting to “get a grip on a blancmanche”, they claimed.
The city council’s oversight and scrutiny management board (OSM) said Weca lacked the structure to involve the public in its decisions and that members needed to pay closer attention to it.
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But Weca, which covers the local authority areas of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset, denied the claims.
It insisted its decisions were “transparent” and that the public were involved in shaping its policies in the four main areas of responsibility across the region — planning, transport, post-16 skills and business infrastructure.
Weca has spending power over transport in the region, as well as planning, skills and business infrastructure
It will receive £1billion from the Government over the next three decades to carry out its devolved powers and is made up of the council chiefs from each of the authorities.
But Bristol OSM member Jo Sergeant said at last week’s meeting: “We’re talking £30million a year. We need to be a bit more probing about what’s going on.”
She said she received no response despite contacting Weca over a month ago about an issue involving adult skills.
Sergeant, a Labour councillor for Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston, said: “If a member of the public gets the lack of response I got, what are they going to think?
“They’re going to think it’s some white elephant organisation that doesn’t do anything.
“Yet it receives £30million a year. It is designated for certain things but we need to know more.
“We’re by far the biggest member and if Weca’s scrutiny on its own isn’t enough from Bristol’s point of view, we should be beefing up the scrutiny of Weca.
“I’m not convinced there’s enough scrutiny of Weca.”
Gary Hopkins, a Lib Dem councillor for Knowle, said: “Some years ago we had the much-hated Avon County Council, but when we did have that, each ward had a representative on Avon so members knew what was going on.
“There’s no structure for public involvement at all with Weca.
“I agree entirely that we need to get a grip on this because it’s our services that are disproportionately affected.
“It’s very, very difficult to scrutinise a body such as this. It’s extremely difficult to get a grip on a blancmanche, which is what we’re being asked to do.”
OSM chairman Geoff Gollop said members were “frustrated” because the only times they discovered they should be scrutinising certain Weca projects was when problems arose.
Weca oversight and scrutiny committee chairman Stephen Clarke, who is also a Green councillor for Southville, said: “It’s not us and Weca. We are Weca. But there are comms problems.”
Weca is responsible for administering a new £6m construction skills hub in Bristol
A Weca spokesman said: “Weca is committed to being transparent in its decision-making.
“The leaders and mayor of the three councils which formed Weca all sit on the Weca committee with the regional mayor and are part of its decision-making.
“The Weca overview and scrutiny committee is made up of 11 members from the across the combined authority region.
“It meets regularly and holds powers to review or scrutinise the work of Weca and make reports or recommendations on these or other matters which affect residents of the Weca area. “
He said its joint committee and scrutiny meetings were held in public at venues across the region “to encourage as many people as possible to come along”.
The spokesman added that residents could submit statements to its public meetings and address members for three minutes, as well as receiving a written answer.
Main photo: Metro mayor Tim Bowles is head of Weca
Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Read more: ‘We need to get our region moving’
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