What does a mayor do?: Responsibilities facing the next mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

A new mayor will be elected next week, so what will be their responsibility?

The next mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will be granted a range of powers after being elected and people across the county will be asked to vote on Thursday, May 1.

Dr Nik Johnson, the current mayor, announced earlier this year that he would not be standing for re-election.

At the time, he said the decision had been made with “great sadness” but it was the “right thing to do”, and explained that the health issues he had faced had played a part in his decision-making.

Five candidates have decided to stand for mayor, including Paul Bristow (Conservative), Ryan Coogan (Reform UK), Lorna Dupré (Liberal Democrats), Bob Ensch (Green Party), and Anna Smith (Labour and Co-operative Party).

So what exactly does a mayor do, and what will be the responsibilities facing them?

The elected mayor leads the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, which was established in 2017 and is the transport authority for the area.

It puts together a plan which sets out the transport-related infrastructure improvements that it aims to make in the area.

The authority says it is responsible for “delivering economic prosperity across the region, particularly in relation to housing, travel, employment skills and environmental improvements”.

Whoever is elected mayor will oversee a £20million annual budget and also has devolved powers to spend up to £800million on housing, infrastructure and jobs.

Representatives from the city and district councils in the area, as well as Cambridgeshire County Council, sit on the various committees and the board, and are part of the decision making process at the combined authority.

Some of the examples of the things that have been done under Dr Nik Johnson’s leadership include the subsidising of certain bus services, the decision to move forward with bus franchising, and the introduction of the Tiger Bus Pass, which offers £1 bus fares for under 25s.

The mayor can also ask to make changes to the mayoral precept, which is added to household council tax bills.

The charge was introduced for the first time in 2023, and the tax was increased in 2024 from £12 to £36 for a Band D household, but has been frozen for this financial year.

Additionally, under central government devolution plans, the next mayor could also be granted new powers over things like housing, planning, transport, energy, skills, and employment support.

In the English Devolution White Paper, published by the government last year, it said mayors may be given a “statutory role” in governing, managing, planning and developing rail networks, and could take on powers to coordinate their road network.

The paper also says that mayors could be given new development management powers, which would enable them to call in planning applications of “strategic importance”.

It added that they would also be able to charge developers a mayoral levy to “ensure that new developments come with the necessary associated infrastructure”.