Simon says mayor should play a key LEP role

BIRMINGHAM mayoral candidate Siôn Simon, the former government minister and Labour MP for Erdington, says the job should involve the mayor chairing the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Simon argues chairing the LEP, as well as a number of other key city bodies – the Birmingham Employment and Skills Board, Be Birmingham, the Regional Integrated Transport Authority, the city’s Health and Wellbeing Board and Birmingham’s new Police and Crime Panel – would give the mayor the powers needed to make a “step change” to the city’s fortunes.

In his response to a Department Of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation document on city mayors, Simon said:  “We cannot take responsibility for our future without a leader who is known, chosen and accountable to the city. This leader cannot bring about the necessary changes without the powers and funds to do so.

“Drawing upon 18 months of speaking to thousands of Brummies about their hopes and fears for our city and how an elected mayor can help us rise to these challenges, my response makes the case for the extra powers and budgets that are necessary to help us transform our city.”

Simon is also calling for the mayor to have greater powers over strategic planning and to have control of key assets in the city formerly held by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.

Before deciding on who should be city mayor, Birmingham has to first decide whether it wants one at all. A referendum on the issue will be held in five months’ time.