New Metro Mayor becomes 'one of region's most powerful politicians'

He will have a salary of £81,300 and wide-ranging powers on issues such as regional transport, housing and adult education, as well as taking on the powers of the police, fire and crime commissioner.

And he’ll have a big budget to go with the big responsibility.

Mr Skaith will be responsible for a ‘Mayoral Investment Fund’ worth £540 million over the next 30 years – and that’s just for starters.

He will also be able to work with other local leaders – including the leaders of both City of York and North Yorkshire councils – to bid for even more money to invest in the region.

As Mayor, Mr Skaith will preside over a ‘York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’ made up of delegates from both City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council.

He will chair a combined authority board or cabinet that includes two senior councillors from York and two from North Yorkshire.

And his job will be to work with that board to deliver ‘shared, long-term visions for the region,’ using some of the money and powers previously held by central government which have now been ‘devolved’ to the mayor’s office: a process known as devolution.

His areas of responsibility will include:

- administering the Mayoral Investment Fund – including the power to borrow more money over and above that fund

- powers to secure the development of brownfield land for housing

- powers to improve regional transport through a devolved, multi-year transport settlement

- adult education.

He will also assume the powers of the police fire and crime commissioner – although he may well appoint a deputy to take on this role.

City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council will continue to run the services that they have traditionally run locally – but they will work closely with the new Mayor on regional priorities.

In the first year alone the new Mayor and the ‘combined authority’ over which he presides will have a total of nearly £57m to spend.

This includes £12.7 million for housing, to deliver more than 700 new homes on brownfield sites, and a further £7 million to support transition to net zero.

A further £5.2 million will go on staff costs: while £2.2 million was spent on the Mayoral election itself.

But, after all these outgoings, the new Mayor will still have almost £18.7 million over the next 12 months which can be invested in ‘agreed priorities across the region’.

This is where he is likely to have most flexibility to deliver on some of his election pledges – although he will have to bring members of the combined authority board with him.

There will be challenges – not least that of reconciling the interests of largely urban (and Labour-controlled) York with rural (and Conservative) North Yorkshire.

The new Combined Authority brings together rural North Yorkshire with urban York (Image: Stock)

But both Cllr Claire Douglas, the Labour leader of City of York Council, and Cllr Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council, have pledged to try to make the new system work.

Back in February, when the fledgling new combined authority was officially launched so that it could prepare for the election of the new Mayor, Cllr Douglas said that devolution – ie the election of the region’s first ‘Metro’-style Mayor - offered a ‘glimmer of light in an otherwise very challenging climate for local councils after over a decade of austerity’.

Cllr Claire Douglas (Image: Stephen Lewis)

“We need to grasp that opportunity and make the most of it,” she told The Press.

Cllr Les was equally forthright.

There would be political differences, he acknowledged, and those would come out during the Mayoral election campaign.

“But once the Mayor is elected we will come together to deliver improved services for the people we both represent,” he pledged.

Cllr Carl Les (Image: Supplied)

Now is the time for all three – Mr Duncan himself, plus Cllr Douglas and Cllr Les – to start delivering on those commitments by showing they can work together.

Where will the new Metro Mayor be based?

York and North Yorkshire’s new Metro Mayor David Skaith islikely to split his time between county hall in Northallerton and York’s West Offices.

Staff working for the new combined authority will be based at both locations.

Mr Skaith will officially take up his new post on Tuesday (May 2).

The first meeting of the new combined authority, with the Mayor as Chair, will then be held on May 31.

That meeting will confirm details of the Mayor’s budget for the next year – so expect lots of scrambling over the next couple of weeks as priorities are discussed and – hopefully - agreed upon.

The new Mayor is expected to make a number of key appointments soon – including possibly appointing a Deputy Mayor to take on responsibility for crime and policing; a political advisor; and other key support staff.

City of York and North Yorkshire councils will continue to provide the services they do now, at a local level. The Combined Authority will work at a regional level in partnership with the two councils.

The new Metro Mayor role is entirely different from the purely ceremonial role of Lord Mayor of York.

That will continue unchanged.