North East Combined Authority

This article is about the mayoral combined authority which was established in May 2024. For the non-mayoral combined authority of a similar name that was abolished in May 2024, see North East Combined Authority (2014–2024).

For wider statistical region, see North East England.

North East Combined Authority
North East Combined Authority within England
Type
Type	Combined Authority
History
Founded	7 May 2024
Preceded by	North East Combined Authority & North of Tyne Combined Authority
Leadership
Mayor	Kim McGuinness, Labour since May 2024
Deputy Mayor	Martin Gannon, Labour since June 2024
Structure
Political groups	Labour (6)   Liberal Democrats (1)   Conservatives (1)
Committees	Audit and Standards Committee, Overview and Scrutiny Committee. [1]
Length of term	None, 4 Years (Mayor)
Elections
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	4 May 2028
Meeting place
The Lumen, St James Boulevard, Newcastle upon Tyne[2]
Website
www.northeast-ca.gov.uk
Constitution
https://www.northeast-ca.gov.uk/governance/constitution

The North East Combined Authority (NECA) is a combined authority in North East England. It has a directly-elected Mayor and seven member councils: two are unitary authorities (Durham and Northumberland) and five are metropolitan borough councils (Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland). The combined authority's area and the separate Tees Valley devolved region occupy the wider statistical region of North East England.^[3][4]

The authority was announced on 28 December 2022 in the North East devolution deal. On 6 March 2024, the Government announced the North East deeper devolution deal, which allowed the new authority to absorb multiple previous devolved bodies and gave NECA increased devolved powers. The first election for the authority took place on 2 May 2024. The replacement of both the non-mayoral North East Combined Authority and the North of Tyne Combined Authority happened on 7 May 2024.^[3] The new combined authority was operational by the end of May 2024. ^[5][6][7]

History

The Tyne and Wear County Council was abolished in 1986 alongside other metropolitan county governments. In 2004, a referendum was held in the North East region to establish a devolved assembly, which was rejected by voters.^[8]

The North East Combined Authority (NECA) was established in April 2014, including seven councils: Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Northumberland.^[9] A devolution deal was agreed, including the creation of a mayor to be elected in 2017. In September 2016, that deal broke down, as the leaders south of the Tyne were worried about the loss of EU funding, and in 2017 no mayor was elected.^[10]

From 2 November 2018, the boundaries of NECA were reduced to Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead and South Tyneside.^[9] The remaining areas left to form a mayoral combined authority called the North of Tyne Combined Authority.^[8] The division of the Tyneside built up area into two combined authorities was criticised.^[10]

In the Levelling Up white paper, the Government announced a larger mayoral combined authority would be created for the region. Durham was to negotiate a separate county deal.^[8] On 28 December 2022, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove announced a £1.4 billion devolution deal. The deal included the establishment of a unified mayoral combined authority, with a mayor to be elected in 2024.^[11] Martin Gannon, leader of Gateshead Council, said local councils were being forced into the deal and that it did not represent levelling up; he said he agreed with its introduction nevertheless.^[12] The seven local councils approved the final plans for the NECA on 9 November 2023, subject to approval by the chief executives of the councils, to allow for the Secretary of State to make the order for the NECA to be established.^[13]

The North East Mayoral Combined Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024 was laid before Parliament on 8 February 2024^[14][15][16] and was made as a statutory instrument on 20 March 2024.^[17][18] The Order dissolved two combined authorities to create NECA, prescribed the regeneration powers which the new Combined Authority holds and set out the functions which the elected Mayor will control.^[19]

On 6 March 2024, the Government announced the North East deeper devolution deal, which supersedes the previous devolution deal gave NECA increased devolved powers.^[5] The deeper devolution deal was signed on 18 March 2024. The deal includes provisions to establish a new North East Strategic Energy Board to coordinate energy supply and demand and promote growth in the offshore wind sector and a new North East Coastal and Rural Taskforce to strengthen the region’s rural and coastal communities.^[20]

Geography

Constituent councils of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority

Ceremonial County	Unitary authorities	Council
County Durham	County Durham	Durham County Council
Northumberland	Northumberland	Northumberland County Council
Tyne and Wear	Gateshead	Gateshead Council
	City of Newcastle	Newcastle City Council
	North Tyneside	North Tyneside Council
	South Tyneside	South Tyneside Council
	City of Sunderland	Sunderland City Council

Population of the North East Combined Authority by district (2022)^[21]

District	Land area		Population		Density (/km^2)
	(km^2)	(%)	People	(%)
County Durham	2,226	29%	528,127	26%	237
Gateshead	142	2%	197,722	10%	1,389
Newcastle upon Tyne	113	1%	307,565	15%	2,711
North Tyneside	82	1%	210,487	11%	2,558
Northumberland	5,020	64%	324,362	16%	65
South Tyneside	64	1%	148,667	7%	2,308
Sunderland	137	2%	277,354	14%	2,018
North East Combined Authority	7,786	100%	1,994,284	100%	256

Constitution

Constitution

The arrangements for NECA's governance were set out in the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024.^[15]

The NECA cabinet has eight voting members and two non-voting members:^[3]

• Voting (8):
  • a member for each council (8)
    • the mayor (1)
• Non-Voting (2):
  • the chair of the Business Board (1)
  • a representative of the community and voluntary sector (1)

The mayor provides leadership to the combined authority and chair combined authority meetings. A deputy mayor was appointed from among the voting members of the authority and the mayor may delegate mayoral functions to authority members.^[3] When the authority first meets it will have to decide what title the mayor is to be known by.^[22]

Mayoral functions

The functions devolved to the mayor are:^[5]

• housing and regeneration
• education, skills and training
• the adult education budget
• the functional power of competence
• housing and planning, including mayoral development areas and corporations, land and acquisition powers
• finance, through council precepts and business rate supplements
• transport, including bus grants and franchising powers

The mayor is a member of the Mayoral Council for England and the Council of the Nations and Regions.

Cabinet

As of May 2024^[update], the cabinet of the combined authority is as follows:^[23]

Name		Membership	Position within nominating authority	Nominating authority
	Kim McGuinness	Constituent	Mayor of the North East	North East Combined Authority
	Martin Gannon	Constituent	Deputy Mayor of the North East, Leader of the Council,	Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council
	Amanda Hopgood	Constituent	Leader of the Council, Member for Culture, Creative, Tourism and Sport	Durham County Council
	Nick Kemp	Constituent	Leader of the Council, Member for The Economy.	Newcastle City Council
	Norma Redfearn	Constituent	Mayor of North Tyneside, Member for Housing and Land.	North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council
	Glen Sanderson	Constituent	Leader of the Council, Member for Environment, Rural & Coast	Northumberland County Council
	Tracey Dixon	Constituent	Leader of the Council, Member for Education, Inclusion and Skills	South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council
	Michael Mordey	Constituent	Leader of the Council, Member for Finance and Investment	Sunderland City Council
	Lucy Winskell	Non-constituent	Chair	Business Board
	TBA	Non-constituent	Representative	Community and Voluntary Sector Member

See also

• Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive

References

1. "Committees". 19 March 2024.
2. "Contact us". 19 March 2024.
3. "North East devolution deal". GOV.UK. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
4. https://www.sunderland.gov.uk/media/28957/North-East-Devolution-Scheme/pdf/Scheme_-_final.pdf?m=638103399897930000 ^{[bare URL]}
5. "North East deeper devolution deal". GOV.UK. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
6. Holland, Daniel (6 March 2024). "What the North East's £100m-plus 'trailblazer' deal means for the region". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
7. Ford, Coreena (6 March 2024). "'Trailblazer' deal set to deliver massive boost to North East". Business Live. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
8. "Devolution to the North of Tyne". The Institute for Government. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
9. North East Combined Authority Profile (PDF) (Report). June 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
10. Cities, Centre (26 November 2017). "North of Tyne devolution - a victory for pragmatism over perfection". Centre for Cities. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
11. "North East mayor created as part of £1.4bn devolution deal". BBC News. 28 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
12. Holland, Daniel (4 January 2023). "'Not a good deal' – Claims North East 'forced' into £4.2bn devolution". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
13. "£4.2bn North East deal gets local approval | Newcastle City Council". www.newcastle.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
14. "North East moves one step closer to historic Mayor". GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
15. "The North East Mayoral Combined Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024". legislation.gov.uk. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
16. "Multibillion-pound North East devolution deal reaches Parliament". BBC News. 7 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
17. "The North East Mayoral Combined Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024".
18. "Law passed for new combined authority". Insider Media.
19. "North East Combined Authority - legislation passed transferring new important powers and funding to the region". DWF. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
20. "Trailblazer deal signed by Council Leaders". Northeastdevolution. 18 March 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
21. "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
22. "Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, s. 107H". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
23. https://www.northeast-ca.gov.uk/downloads/2622/neca-cabinet-7-may-2024-supplementary-agenda-pack.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

External links

• Official website
• North East Devolution
• North East Mayoral Combined Authority on X
• North East Combined Authority Returning Officer
• North East Local Enterprise Partnership