The West of England business community calls on regional leaders to urgently bring forward plans to incorporate North Somerset into the West of England Combined Authority (WECA).
Business West Chamber and Initiative, the regional business organisation representing thousands of local employers, is calling on West of England regional leaders to urgently ensure that North Somerset Council is able to join the West of England Combined Authority before a central government window to approve this closes this year.
James Durie, the West of England Director said:
“North Somerset is an integral part of the West of England region – it has thousands of businesses who work and operate here and deep connections between employees, visitors and the rest of the region. Local businesses don’t want to see fractured local government, but want leaders working together to make the strongest case for regional investment, co-ordination and jointly tackling the problems that businesses and communities face.
“Most now view the failure of North Somerset to join WECA in 2016 as a significant mistake, including residents, businesses and the current leadership of North Somerset Council. We should now warmly welcome them wanting to join. We know the current arrangements are highly unsatisfactory, create confusing and overlapping governance arrangements that make it harder to co-ordinate regional efforts for greater prosperity and making the case for increased transport, skills and infrastructure investment.
“With increased competition for central government resources from other northern city regions and the growing economic strain from Covid-19 being felt by our region, we believe that a more powerful case can be made with North Somerset in WECA. We want and need a strong and joined up region to fully prosper, help us make the argument for further investment and pull together most effectively. We call on the local leaders of WECA and the four authorities to work together to deliver this outcome.”
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