CORNWALL: How much would a mayor for Cornwall cost?

Cornwall councillors have been given a briefing on the possibility of a directly elected mayor being required to secure new powers from Westminster. The briefing has led to questions on how a decision would be taken on whether a directly elected leader is needed and how much it might cost.

The Government revealed earlier this year that Cornwall was one of a handful of areas which had been invited to draw up a new county deal to secure more devolved powers. However details from the Department for Levelling Up have revealed that in order to secure the highest tier of devolution would require Cornwall having a directly elected mayor.

A report going to the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) this week recommends that Cornwall should bid for a Level 3 county deal which would require a directly elected mayor. This leader would be similar to those in cities such as London, Manchester and Bristol.

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One of the discussions believed to be exercising councillors at County Hall is around who should decide whether Cornwall has a directly elected mayor. Some are understood to have indicated a preference for a referendum which would allow the public to decide, however there is some pushback as a referendum could cost around £1.4million.

But those in favour of a referendum say that the one-off costs would be lower than the annual costs which would be incurred once a directly elected leader is in place. Steve Double, MP for St Austell and Newquay, previously suggested that a referendum would be required to decide whether Cornwall has a directly elected mayor.

If there was no referendum then it could be down to Cornwall Council to have a vote on whether Cornwall should have a directly elected mayor.

Bristol, which has a smaller population than Cornwall, has had a directly elected mayor since 2012 following a referendum which found a majority in favour. However, a second referendum is set to be held in May to decide whether the post remains.

So, how much does current Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees earn and how much does his office cost the taxpayer? Figures from Bristol City Council indicate that Rees’ basic salary in 2020/21 was £80,870.

And the Bristol Post found in 2019 that the Mayor’s office had cost the taxpayer £3million in the seven years since it was first established. But the annual cost had risen in that time and in 2016/17 the total cost was almost £700,000. Some have suggested that that could have risen to as much as £1.5m today.

In 2019 the Mayor was reported as having 11 members of staff for his office which included a head of the mayor’s office with an annual salary of £95,000.

It is also believed that there have been discussions among some councillors about who might stand for the role of Mayor of Cornwall if it goes ahead. In other parts of the country former MPs have gone on to be Mayors including the likes of Andy Burnham in Manchester and Sadiq Khan in London.

Could one of our current Conservative MPs in Cornwall be interested in throwing their hat into the ring should a Mayor for Cornwall be created?

The report going to the LEP board on Wednesday sets out some of the additional powers available under Level 3 if Cornwall had a directly elected mayor. These include:

Long term investment fund with an agreed annual allocation

Role in designing and delivering future contracted employment programmes 

Ability to establish Mayoral Development Corporations (with consent of host local planning authority)

Devolution of locally-led brownfield funding

Consolidation of existing core local transport funding for local road maintenance and smaller upgrades into a multi-year integrated settlement

Priority for new rail partnerships with Great British Railways – influencing local rail offer, e.g. services and stations

Ability to introduce supplement on business rates