Following the abolition of
metropolitan county councils and the
Greater London Council in 1986, England had no local government bodies with strategic authority over the major urban areas of the country. In 1999, following a successful
referendum, the Labour government created a strategic authority for London (the
Greater London Authority), but no bodies were established to replace the metropolitan county councils outside London. The
Blair government instead pursued the idea of elected
regional assemblies, although following an unsuccessful
referendum in 2004 in the most positive region – the North East – this idea had few proponents. In October 2010 the Coalition Government introduced measures to replace
regional development agencies, which were described as inefficient and costly. They were superseded by
local enterprise partnerships, voluntary groups whose membership was drawn from the private sector with local authority input. Earlier in 2010, the Government accepted a proposal from the
Association of Greater Manchester Authorities to establish a
Greater Manchester Combined Authority as an indirectly elected top-tier strategic authority for
Greater Manchester. Following the unsuccessful
English mayoral referendums in 2012, combined authorities have been used as an alternative means to grant additional powers and funding as part of 'city deals'. In 2014, two indirectly elected combined authorities were established covering the ceremonial county areas of
South Yorkshire and
West Yorkshire, and a further two which each covered a metropolitan county and adjacent non-metropolitan districts: the
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for
Merseyside and the
Borough of Halton unitary authority; and the
North East Combined Authority for
Tyne and Wear and the unitary authorities of
County Durham and
Northumberland. In 2016, a combined authority was formed for the metropolitan county of the
West Midlands; as a consequence, all former metropolitan counties are now covered by combined authorities. In 2016, the first combined authority to not cover a metropolitan county was formed. This was
Tees Valley, which covers the area of the former county of
Cleveland (now four unitary authorities in the ceremonial counties of
Durham and
North Yorkshire), together with the unitary authority of
Darlington. Two further combined authorities which do not cover ceremonial counties or former metropolitan counties were formed in 2017:
West of England, comprising
Bristol and two of the three adjacent unitary authorities in
Gloucestershire and
Somerset, all of which had been within the former county of
Avon; and
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. In 2019 a single Yorkshire Combined Authority, dubbed "One Yorkshire" was proposed. The proposal had support from 18 of the 20 Yorkshire councils. Sheffield and Rotherham both preferred the
South Yorkshire alternative while the
Mayor of South Yorkshire,
Dan Jarvis, also supported a One Yorkshire proposal. In 2020, it was reported that other combined authorities for non-metropolitan parts of the country – such as
Cumbria,
Lancashire, North Yorkshire, and Somerset – were under consideration, but the effect of the
coronavirus pandemic on governance meant decisions were delayed until late 2021.
2022 A
government white paper published in February 2022 contained invitations for nine areas to go into devolution deal negotiations:
2023–24 The
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Jeremy Hunt, announced in his
2023 budget speech that "trailblazer deals" had been struck with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and
West Midlands Combined Authority which included reforms to their funding models. As part of these deals, the combined authorities will be treated in a similar manner to government departments at the next
spending review and each will be allocated a multi-year single settlement, replacing a large number of individual grant funding streams for which they must submit individual competitive bids. In his
2024 budget, Hunt said that the
North East Combined Authority would have the same trailblazer deal. In return, the CAs would face greater oversight, including quarterly scrutiny sessions by new committees of local MPs. Since the
Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 was passed, there was an influx of new CAs and CCAs either being created or planned to be created, and further powers to be devolved to existing authorities.
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 In December 2024 the
Starmer ministry published a
white paper which is expected to lead to the creation of further combined authorities. However it was envisaged that the combined authorities, combined county authorities, and the
Greater London Authority, would all be redesignated as "strategic authorities", which would have competence over transport and local infrastructure, skills and employment support, housing and strategic planning, economic development and regeneration, environment and climate change, health, wellbeing and public service reform, and public safety. It is expected that eventually strategic authorities would cover the whole of England. As a first step to this goal four further combined authority deals were approved in February 2025. These are listed below.
Devon and Torbay In early 2022, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay was selected as one of nine pilot areas in England by the UK government in the
Levelling Up White Paper for "County Deal" negotiations. However,
Plymouth City Council decided to withdraw from the deal in November 2023. Devon and Torbay proceeded without Plymouth with a joint proposal for a Level 2 Devolution Deal, a Combined Authority without a directly elected mayor. The deal was approved by both Devon County Council and Torbay Council and submitted to the Secretary of State for approval in early May 2024. The Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority was formally approved in September 2024 following parliamentary approval. There are provisions to expand the membership should Plymouth City Council join the DTCCA in the future, and in February 2025 Plymouth, Devon and Torbay Councils agreed to explore the creation of a Mayoral Authority, which would supersede the non-mayoral Combined County Authority.
Hull and East Yorkshire •
East Riding of Yorkshire;
Kingston upon Hull After the government rejected the One Yorkshire proposal in 2019 and a
cross-Humber deal with North Lincolnshire failed, a Hull and East Riding alternative was proposed. Negotiations began with government on a deal, with leaders of both unitary authorities indicating a preference for a rotating chair instead of a mayor. Council leaders agreed to the concept in June 2020, with suggestions of reducing the number of districts into three unitary authorities, or implementing a single unitary authority instead of a combined authority. The three proposed successor authorities would have covered the northern and coastal, central and southern, and eastern and Pennine areas. A non-mayoral county deal was approved in September 2024. failed in 2016 after constituent councils voted against it. There were subsequently discussions of an East Midlands devolution deal. A new Greater Lincolnshire devolution deal was announced on 13 November 2023 with the agreement of
Lincolnshire County Council,
North East Lincolnshire and
North Lincolnshire with a directly elected Mayor without the involvement of any the constituent boroughs. The deal proposed to devolve certain powers, i.e. housing, transport, education and skills as well as environmental matters to GLCCA. The consultation by the constituent councils received significant support in favour of the GLCCA. The three local authorities following public consultations formally agreed to the deal in March 2024. Following the outcome of the
2024 general election, the new Labour government agreed to proceed with the devolution deal on 21 September 2024. Draft statutory instruments to establish the combined authority were laid before parliament on 26 November 2024.
The Great North In May 2025 the mayors of combined authorities across the
North of England (Greater Manchester, Hull and East Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, North East, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire) launched a partnership known as
The Great North. The partnership, whose brand is based on the
Great North Run, will lead trade missions and focus on pan-North investment propositions including hosting a Northern investment summit. Transport has been integrated under the statutory body
Transport for the North since 2018. == Legislation ==