Calderdale councillors want to ensure new West Yorkshire Mayor is scrutinised

Calderdale Council’s scrutiny councillors want to ensure similar processes are in place when the first West Yorkshire Mayor is elected as part of the region’s devolution deal next spring.
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In the current framework for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority – of which Calderdale is a member alongside Bradford, Kirklees, Wakefield and Leeds councils, plus the City of York – the authority has one scrutiny panel made up of three councillors from each, 18 in total.

Options being considered for the Mayoral authority include keeping just scrutiny committee, or two or three scrutiny committees specialising in different areas, for example corporate issues, economic matters and transport, Senior Scrutiny Support Officer Mike Lodge told the council’s Strategy and Performance Scrutiny Board.

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This brief would include decisions made by the new Mayor or their Deputy.

Leaders of the local authorities in West YorkshireLeaders of the local authorities in West Yorkshire
Leaders of the local authorities in West Yorkshire

Councillors heard there would be separate scrutiny of the Police and Crime Panel decisions.

Board chairman Coun Paul Bellenger (Lib Dem, Greetland and Stainland) questioned whether one scrutiny board would be enough, bearing in mind the Calderdale board’s position that scrutiny must be robust.

Coun Rob Holden (Ind, Ryburn), referring to the WYCA set-up, said: “I have concerns about how effective a panel of 18 people can be when you are trying to get down to the nitty gritty.

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“Quite often it has been most effective when there has been a very small group.”

Coun Victoria Porritt (Lab, Elland) asked how relevant the experiences of other existing Mayoral authorities might be.

“How relevant would their successes be to us? For an example an authority that looks like West Yorkshire, or unique challenges,” she said.