A combined authority is different from your local council. Your council looks after important local services like social care, recycling and waste, planning, local transport and roads, parks and open spaces, libraries and leisure services, and many more. A combined authority complements this by bringing together local leaders on issues that are best coordinated across a wider area, including regional public transport, skills and training, housing and regeneration, economic growth, and tackling climate change. There are already 14 mayoral combined authorities operating across England, with more expected in the future. The West of England Combined Authority is one of those.

The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is currently made up of three constituent councils and has an elected Mayor. The individual councils are represented on the WECA Committee by their Leaders. WECA sits alongside the other councils – it does not replace their services or functions. WECA is held to the same rules of accountability and transparency as any other local government organisation, with papers and meetings open to the public.

In the original plans for WECA, it was designed to include all four local authorities, with North Somerset Council a full member alongside Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, and South Gloucestershire. North Somerset decided not to join WECA ahead of its formal creation in 2017. Since then, North Somerset has continued to be a core part of the West of England region and has been a close partner of WECA. The residents, businesses, economy, and communities across the existing WECA region and North Somerset are intrinsically linked – but currently North Somerset residents are not fully represented in regional decision making as they don’t have a vote in the formal decision-making committee.

There is now new support for North Somerset’s membership from national government, which wants all local authorities to join Strategic/Combined Authorities, as well as from the Mayor of the West of England and the local council leaders in the region. The WECA Committee and North Somerset Council have each agreed to launch a formal consultation on expanding the Combined Authority to include North Somerset.

No, an expanded WECA will not replace the four authorities: Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, North Somerset Council and Bath and North East Somerset Council, and nor will it fulfil the same functions as the old Avon County Council. The expansion of WECA to include North Somerset would not result in the merge or take-over of councils. Councils will still deliver the things they are responsible for but by coming together through the Combined Authority they can choose to work together regional and cross-boundary issues, in particular to deliver economic growth.

The Mayor of the West of England is directly elected by the residents of the region and is the leader of the Combined Authority. The current Mayor, Helen Godwin, was elected for a four-year term in May 2025.

Local councils have leaders, who are chosen from among the already elected Councillors.

The WECA Mayor role is different from the role of ceremonial mayors in some of the constituent authorities, who have more of a focus on community engagement and charity support, and who do not have a decision-making role other than if they also hold a normal role as a councillor.

Major decisions at the WECA are made by the WECA Committee, which is made up of the Mayor and the leaders of the constituent local authorities. The Committee has the power to delegate some decisions to the Chief Executive and/or specific Directors in WECA but maintains oversight of those decisions.

Currently, the Leader of North Somerset Council attends WECA Committee but is not able to vote on many of the items that are decided because the Council does not have full membership. Once North Somerset joins, the Leader of the Council will become a full member of the Committee and be able to vote in the same way as the leaders of the existing constituent local authorities.

The Mayor of the West of England was last elected in May 2025. At the next regularly scheduled Mayoral election in 2029, residents across the expanded WECA area will be eligible to vote for the West of England Mayor.

Joining WECA will unlock an immediate one-off £15m investment boost for the region. This money will be provided by central government and the WECA Committee (including North Somerset) will decide how it is spent to benefit residents in the West of England.

Membership will also mean greater access to pots of funding for North Somerset that are administered or delivered by WECA, including the Transport for City Regions (TCR) fund of £752m for regional transport priorities. North Somerset would also be able to benefit from the £30m a year Investment Fund provided to WECA as part of its original devolution deal with government.

Under current arrangements, joining the Combined Authority does not have any impact on the levels of council tax paid by North Somerset residents, which remains a matter for the Council to determine.

The recent council tax rise in North Somerset is due to meeting pressures in social care and not connected with WECA. WECA doesn’t currently charge a precept and there would be no membership fees for North Somerset, should we join. Additionally, the government is also supporting the costs of the membership process with £1m capacity funding plus £15m in capital funding.

North Somerset formally joining WECA requires legislation to be passed through Parliament. Following the consultation, the Government, WECA and the constituent councils will consider the responses. If all parties agree to proceed, then in collaboration with WECA and North Somerset Council, they will finalise the proposal for expansion and present it to Parliament.

Currently both WECA and North Somerset are Local Transport Authorities, which are statutory bodies in England responsible for the planning, managing, and delivery of major transport projects including roads and bus networks. They receive and manage funding from the Department for Transport for projects like the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). If North Somerset Council joins WECA, WECA will become the Transport Authority for the whole expanded region, enabling better coordination of major transport projects across the area.

Local Highway Authority (LHA) powers would remain with North Somerset Council, and North Somerset Council would continue to deliver many functions that matter to our communities – maintenance, new scheme design and delivery, structures, asset management, road safety and traffic management. Elements of strategic transport policy and bus services would transfer to WECA, but North Somerset would continue to manage bus infrastructure and network management duties.

The exact timescale for membership depends on when the expansion is agreed in Parliament and by the WECA Committee and North Somerset Council. If all parties agree to expansion following the consultation, it is possible that North Somerset council be full members of WECA by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

If expansion goes ahead, the Leader of North Somerset Council will become a full member of the WECA Committee and will be able to vote on all issues that come before the Committee, including those that impact on North Somerset. The Leader will be able to represent those communities on the Committee. North Somerset residents and businesses will also become the Mayor of the West of England’s constituents and so will be able to contact her with their views and requests for support in the same way as they can their other representatives.

North Somerset would be full members of the Combined Authority from the moment of expansion so there would be no interim arrangements between that point and the next mayoral election in 2029. The Leader of North Somerset Council would sit as a full member of WECA Committee and able to represent the views of local residents and businesses in decision making.

There are no immediate plans for any direct transfer of staff or services from North Somerset to WECA as a result of expansion. If expansion proceeds, discussions about the delivery of services will form part of the process for formal incorporation of North Somerset into WECA.

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