The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA), officially the Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral Combined Authority, is the combined authority of the Liverpool City Region in England. Its area includes the City of Liverpool local authority area, the Metropolitan Boroughs of Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, and Wirral, and the Borough of Halton. It was established on 1 April 2014 by statutory instrument under the provisions of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. Composition of the combined authority is made up of the leaders of the six principal membership authorities, plus several non-voting members with various vested interests in the activities of the combined authority.
The LCRCA is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. Transport policy of the combined authority is delivered by the Merseytravel functional body.
The chair of the authority is Steve Rotheram, the directly elected Liverpool City Region Mayor.
The concept of a 'Liverpool city region' gained traction in the 2004 report 'Moving Forward: The Northern Way'. It was commissioned by the UK government and published by The Northern Way.[2]
Collaborative working between the local authorities in the city region followed in 2007, with the publication of the Liverpool City Region Development Plan. In 2008, relationships between the authorities deepened with the decision that they would enter a multi-area agreement.[3] A new City Region Cabinet was established, made up of the leaders of the 6 local authorities in Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helens and Wirral and private sector representation through the Chair of The Mersey Partnership. The Cabinet continued to evolve and in 2012, central government declared the 'Liverpool City Region Deal' which came with the establishment of a local transport body.
On 21 June 2013, the Liverpool City Region Cabinet agreed that there needed to be a wholesale review of governance arrangements in the area. A report on its findings was published on 30 September 2013. The report identified the city region as one of the fastest growing economies in the UK which had outgrown existing informal relationships between the local authorities. The report recommended the establishment of a more formal combined authority to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of local transport, promote economic development and regeneration. It was proposed that the combined authority have seven members - one from each constituent local authority, and one more from the (now disbanded) Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.[4]
Relationships between the local authorities were reinforced with the formal establishment of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority on 1 April 2014.[5]
On 21 June 2013, the (now defunct) Liverpool City Region Cabinet agreed to review the strategic governance arrangements across the area. Following this review, the six local authorities of the city region intended to strengthen their collaborative governance to enable the city region to optimise its economic growth potential. The authorities put forward the name 'Liverpool City Region Combined Authority' for their proposed combined authority. A draft report was published for the plan in August 2013 in which the authorities and relevant stakeholders were consulted. The consultation ran between 5 August and 6 September 2013.[6][7][8][9] A revised report was published in September 2013 which confirmed that the Liverpool city region wished to pursue the creation of a Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.[10]
The scheme to establish a Liverpool City Region Combined Authority was then submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by 30 September 2013. A statutory consultation followed in November 2013, however, the government published scheme used the name 'Greater Merseyside Combined Authority'. The government consultation that followed showed strong support for a name that included 'Liverpool' and not 'Merseyside'.[11][12]
The name was changed to Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral Combined Authority in the draft order presented to the UK parliament.[13] This was chosen by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) because it said the local authorities could not agree a name for the combined authority[14] and some responses to the consultation objected to the name 'Liverpool'.[15] An explanatory memorandum attached to the orders creating the combined authorities stated that any name including 'City Region' was considered "misleading and inappropriate" by the government.[16] DCLG stated that the combined authority could use any public name it wanted.[17] On 21 February 2014, it was decided by the constituent councils that the authority would use the public name of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.[18] A motion at the inaugural meeting on 1 April 2014 proposed that the authority should formally adopt this name and it was passed unanimously. The authority's statutory name remains the "Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral Combined Authority".
The membership of the combined authority is as follows:[34][35][36]
The combined authority has a cabinet, Leaders of the Constituent Councils are cabinet members and are assigned portfolios by the Mayor, the cabinet also has deputy cabinet members who are councillors from the constituent councils.
The composition of the Mayors cabinet currently is:
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is chaired by the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region (sometimes referred to as the 'Metro Mayor').The Mayor is directly elected every four years by the electorate within the boundaries of Liverpool City Region. Once elected, the Mayor exercises the powers and functions devolved from the UK's national government, which are set out in the local area’s evolving devolution arrangements. Primarily, the Mayor's role is to work alongside his colleagues within the Combined Authority and to focus on significant issues that affect the economy, infrastructure, health, wellbeing and strategic planning of the city region. The Mayor is a high profile public figurehead and is often seen as a spokesperson for the city region, regularly quoted in the national press when important developments, announcements or public debates take place.[38][39][40]
The incumbent Mayor is Steve Rotheram, who was elected as the first ever Mayor of the Liverpool City Region on 5 May 2017.
The long-term future of the authority was left in doubt after the previous leader of Liverpool City Council Joe Anderson decided to seek legal advice on Liverpool City Council leaving, following his failure to be elected as its chair. Anderson was not present during the leadership vote. Other members said he allowed his 'personal ego' and his belief he had a "God given right to chair the authority" to put it in jeopardy. The future of the authority appeared more secure following a statement by Anderson on 7 April 2014, where he made clear that the matter that caused the dispute was "closed" and that Liverpool would remain within the combined authority.[41]
The authority held its first elections for a directly elected mayor in May 2017. The election was won by Steve Rotheram.
The authority consists of several committees and boards, overseen largely by elected councillors from within the city region, whom discuss and advise on specific policy areas.[42][43] They are as follows:
The UK central government has devolved a range of powers and responsibilities to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region. Since the inception of these authorities, several devolution agreements offered by central government have been ratified by the constituent local authorities of the Combined Authority.
The first devolution agreement was announced on 17 November 2015 which allocated powers over local business growth and support, culture, employment and skills, energy and environment, fiscal responsibilities, housing and planning, innovation and transport.[44] The agreement was then further strengthened in March 2016 which broadened the existing powers and added additional new powers over apprenticeships, business rates, health and social care and the justice system.[45] The government has committed to further strengthening the Liverpool city region’s devolution arrangements in line with national plans surrounding the Northern Powerhouse.[46][47] Therefore, the capability and capacity of the Combined Authority is designed to be dynamic and evolving.
The current powers and responsibilities of the Combined Authority are listed below:
On 1 March 2024, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities confirmed that the Liverpool city region had been selected for increased powers. At the time of the announcement, the government indicated that it was to be known as 'Level 4' devolution, the greatest possible level of devolution available to all eligible devolved institutions in England. As one of the 'most mature' devolved institutions in the country, the government argued that the city region had the governance capability and capacity to carry out new levers of power covering areas such as culture and tourism, employment and skills, energy and environment, finance, health and social care, housing and planning, innovation, trade and investment, transport as well as the ability to influence government on future legislation.[57]
The government also confirmed that this move did not mark the end of the city region's devolution journey, that more functions would be transferred from Whitehall and the levels of power would continue to be reviewed in the future. The individual powers offered as part of this agreement have been listed as 'impending' in the table below. These powers are optional and the Combined Authority will decide in due course which particular ones to formally adopt from this framework. Officials from central government will continue to work with officials in the Combined Authority regarding any further requirements that are needed to be satisfied in order for them to be implemented over the coming years.[58]
The 'impending' powers of the Combined Authority are as follows:
In 2020, the Combined Authority ran a consultation program called "LCR Listens: Our Places" on a proposed strategy for planning across the city region, which gained the views of people who don't typically participate in spatial development consultations. Their work won a Planning Award 2020 for 'stakeholder engagement in planning (plan-making)'.[59]
Across September and November 2020, the combined authority started a land commission - reported as the first of its kind in England to re-orientate the city region's economy around community wealth building. This was in partnership with Centre for Local Economic Strategies.[60]