This consultation seeks views from residents and organisations across all parts of the West of England on a proposal for expansion of the West of England Combined Authority to incorporate North Somerset Council.

Read the detail / Have your say

This consultation will remain open for responses until 23.59 on Friday 10 April 2026.

In December 2024, the government published the English Devolution White Paper. This sets out plans to move power out of Westminster and back to local communities, ensuring that every part of England is covered by devolution. As part of this move towards greater devolution, there has been strong support locally for North Somerset Council to join the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority and gain access to the additional powers and funding that membership of a Combined Authority brings. This expansion is also supported by national government.

Before taking a decision on whether to proceed with including North Somerset within the existing Combined Authority covering the West of England region, the Combined Authority is seeking views from interested parties, including those who live, work, and/or have businesses within the existing West of England area and North Somerset Council area.

The benefits

With strong economic foundations and an economy that already operates as a single functional area, the West of England has significant opportunities to build greater prosperity. The region’s Growth Strategy sets out these opportunities in detail. Formal expansion to include North Somerset would unlock greater regional potential by integrating public resources, aligning policy levers and enabling genuinely regional planning and delivery. This would strengthen competitiveness, productivity and long-term growth across the whole West of England.

A single transport authority covering the full functional economic area would deliver clearer, faster and more coherent decision-making. This benefits every part of the region:

  • A larger, better-connected labour market gives employers access to a deeper talent pool and residents access to a wider range of jobs that match their skills. This raises productivity across all four authorities.
  • More efficient logistics and freight movement, with Bristol Airport and Royal Portbury Dock strategically integrated into regional transport plans, strengthens supply chains and supports business expansion across the region.
  • Improved access to local markets helps SMEs in every district grow, scale and create jobs. Better connectivity to ports also supports exporters, increasing the region’s international reach.

Challenges and opportunities do not stop at administrative boundaries. Expansion enables:

  • Tailored but scalable place-based interventions, ensuring solutions developed in one area can be applied across the wider geography where appropriate.
  • Joined-up planning for commercial and residential development, skills, infrastructure and amenities - ensuring growth is planned holistically rather than piecemeal.
  • More efficient use of public resources, with consistent approaches for businesses and residents and better value for money.
  • Stronger, more sustainable communities, as coordinated regeneration and infrastructure investment improves quality of life across the whole region.

The West of England has a highly skilled workforce, but too many people, particularly young people and those with health conditions, struggle to access the opportunities growth creates. Expansion would:

  • Enable coordinated investment in skills, business support and enabling infrastructure across the full economic geography.
  • Ensure residents in all four authorities can access regionally designed programmes, improving job prospects, career pathways and access to high-quality training.
  • Tackle barriers to opportunity at the right scale, reflecting the deep interdependencies between labour markets across the region.
  • Support inclusive growth, ensuring that prosperity is shared across urban, coastal and rural communities.

A Combined Authority covering the full functional economic area can:

  • Present a single, coherent regional investment proposition
  • Make a stronger case for national funding and devolved powers
  • Provide greater certainty to investors about long-term planning and infrastructure delivery
  • Strengthen the region’s position in national and international markets

This is not a referendum. This consultation is advisory and will be used by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority and North Somerset Council to inform its approach to expansion. Responses to the consultation will be fed into the decision-making process but the consultation itself is not binding.