Elected mayor meaning

Background The Bill sits within the government’s wider drive to devolve power and bolster decision-making at local and regional levels. This programme was trailed in the King’s Speech and taken forward through the English Devolution White Paper of December 2024, which proposed handing substantial planning and infrastructure responsibilities to newly designated strategic authorities. The White Paper pledged to reinstate strategic planning across England, after years without a cross-boundary framework beyond London. It further set out intentions to finish the devolution map, establish a new layer of ‘strategic authorities’, and provide them with more coherent powers for planning, infrastructure, housing and growth. Key planning provisions Strategic authorities and tiers of devolution The Bill introduces a new class of Strategic Authority, spanning Combined authorities, Combined County authorities (CCAs), the Greater London Authority, and specified unitary authorities where designated. These are arranged into three tiers: Foundation Strategic Authorities — for places without an elected Mayor; access to limited functions Mayoral Strategic Authorities — for areas with...

In this issue: Local government reorganisation Public procurement Planning Education Governance Social housing Healthcare Children's social care Adult social care Pensions LexTalk®Local Government: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Local government reorganisation MHCLG publishes implementation letters for unitary local government reorganisation The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has issued implementation correspondence to council chief executives in Suffolk; Norfolk; Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton; and Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock. The letters outline precise expectations for delivering the agreed shift to unitary local government, setting out required actions for councils, funding provisions, and the forthcoming steps in the programme. See: LNB News 31/03/2026 17. IfG insight paper examines mismatch between public service reform aims and implementation The Institute for Government (IfG) has released an insight paper exploring the gap between the government’s declared public service reform ambitions on...

This Practice Note addresses the supplementary employment obligations specific to local government regarding the recruitment and removal of statutory post-holders, including the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Local Authority Chief Officers terms, green book provisions, occupation-specific conditions of service, and authorities’ rules on employment procedures. It sets out the varying rules that apply to different categories of officers. It further outlines the part played by leaders or elected mayors and the cabinet under executive arrangements, together with the Chief Executive, in these processes as applicable. Discussion of employment issues in local government fall into three areas: routine employment law issues, such as those concerning discrimination, fair or unfair dismissal (including redundancy), TUPE, etc contractual obligations, which necessitate consultation with national conditions of service except where local agreements have been made ...

Planning responsibilities across the Greater London area are discharged by the following: the Mayor of London (the Mayor) the 32 London Boroughs the City of London Corporation two Mayoral Development Corporations for specific areas The government has issued guidance on the legislation and scrutiny of Mayoral Development Corporations operating within combined authorities and within combined county authorities. Powers under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 The Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLAA 1999) established a Greater London Assembly for the Greater London Area, with the objective of promoting economic and social development in Greater London and improving the environment across the area. The GLAA 1999 further provides for a directly elected Mayor, empowered to undertake any of the authority’s important functions on its behalf, and who holds responsibility for strategic governance in London. The planning functions are set out in GLAA 1999, Pt VIII, as well as in subordinate legislation. These functions relate to: strategic planning...

Chairing meetings If the chairman of a local authority meeting (also known as the mayor or maer in a city or borough council without a directly elected mayor) is in attendance, they are required to take the chair. Where the chairman is absent from a full council meeting, the vice-chairman will preside or, if they too are not present, another councillor selected by those in attendance will take the chair. In these circumstances, a Cabinet member is not eligible to preside. For parish and community councils, the chairman or vice-chairman must chair the meeting and, if both are away, any councillor chosen by the members present may do so. At parish meetings where the parish has a separate council, the chairman of that council must preside or, if unavailable, the vice-chairman of that council. Where there is no separate parish council, the chairman of the parish meeting appointed for the year, if present, must preside. If none of these individuals is present at a parish meeting, the meeting may...