North East Combined Authority

North East Combined Authority
North East Combined Authority within England
Type
Type	Combined authority
Houses	Unicameral
Term limits	None
History
Founded	15 April 2014
Leadership
Chair	Paul Watson Since 21 June 2016
Vice-chair	Mick Henry Since 15 April 2014
Vice-chair	Norma Redfearn Since 15 April 2014
Seats	8 members
Elections
Voting system	Indirect election, directly elected metro-mayor from 2017
Last election	15 April 2014
Website
www.northeastca.gov.uk

The North East Combined Authority is a combined authority that covers most of the North East region of England.^[1] It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 on 15 April 2014 with the statutory name Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland Combined Authority.^[2] It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. The combined authority area is the same as that of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, and does not include Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool in the south of the North East region, which instead form a separate Tees Valley Combined Authority. At its first meeting on 15 April 2014, Simon Henig, Leader of Durham County Council, was elected as its chair.^[3] The functions, property, rights and liabilities of the former Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority were inherited by the North East Combined Authority, forming an executive body within the new authority as the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive.

On October 2015 that the Authority would receive an enhanced devolution settlement and elect a Mayor in 2017.^[4] The plans were latter cancelled by the Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid on 8 September 2016, after Durham, Gateshead, South Tyneside, and Sunderland Councils withdrew their support for the plans.^[5]The current non-mayoral combined authority arrangements will continue.

History

In order to create a combined authority the local authorities in the proposed area must undertake a governance review and produce a scheme of their proposals.

Naming

The order which established the combined authority referred to it as the Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland Combined Authority, simply listing the names of the constituent councils in alphabetical order. The initial consultation used the name Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Combined Authority.^[6] The body uses the name North East Combined Authority or NECA,^[7] and for marketing purposes has adopted the brand north east combined authority (all lower case). The board is known as the North East Leadership Board.

Membership

The membership of the combined authority is as follows:^[8]

Name		Membership	Position within nominating authority	Nominating authority	Position within combined authority
	Paul Watson	Constituent	Leader of the Council	Sunderland City Council	Chair
	Martin Gannon	Constituent	Leader of the Council	Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council
	Nick Forbes	Constituent	Leader of the Council	Newcastle City Council	Lead for Transport
	Norma Redfearn	Constituent	Mayor of North Tyneside	North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council	Vice Chair
	Grant Davey	Constituent	Leader of the Council	Northumberland County Council	Lead for Employability and Inclusion
	Iain Malcolm	Constituent	Leader of the Council	South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council
	Simon Hening	Constituent	Leader of the Council	Durham County Council
	Paul Woolston	Non-constituent	Chair	North East Local Enterprise Partnership

Local government

Map of North East England.

The official region consists of the following counties:

County	No. on Map	Population	Area (sq mi)	Population Density (per km²)
Northumberland	1	316,300	1,936	63
Tyne and Wear	2	1,118,713	208	2,044
County Durham	3	902,500	859	233

References

1. "North East Combined Authority". Northeastca.gov.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
2. "The Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland Combined Authority Order 2014". Legislation.gov.uk. 2015-07-03. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
3. Chronicle, Evening (2014-04-15). "Community News in Brief Tuesday April 15". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
4. "Elected mayors for north-east of England as devolution deal announced". BBC News. 23 October 2015.
5. "Sajid Javid ends North East devolution deal". BBC News. 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
6. "Proposal to establish a combined authority for Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear - Consultations". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
7. "NECA website: Who are we?". Northeastca.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
8. "North East Leadership Board Members | North East Combined Authority". Northeastca.gov.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

External links

• North East Local Enterprise Partnership
• Background from Gateshead Council