Abbreviation | AGMA |
---|---|
Formation | 1986 |
Type | Governmental |
Purpose | Strategic local governance of Greater Manchester |
Headquarters | Wigan Investment Centre, Waterside Drive, Wigan |
Location | |
Coordinates | 53°32′22″N2°38′09″W / 53.53950°N 2.63597°W |
Region served | Greater Manchester |
Chair | Peter Smith, Baron Smith of Leigh [1] |
Main organ | Executive Board [2] |
Parent organization | Greater Manchester Combined Authority |
Staff | 0 [note 1] |
Website | www.agma.gov.uk |
The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA, 1986-2011) was the local government association for Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. Its creation followed the abolition of the Greater Manchester County Council being established in 1986 as a governmental organisation to represent the ten district councils of Greater Manchester. AGMA was later superseded by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the first authority of this new type in the United Kingdom, on 1 April 2011.
The Local Government Act 1985, which abolished the metropolitan county councils of England, included provisions for the district councils in each abolished area in England to vote to establish a county-wide replacement body if they considered this to be the most efficient and effective way of providing certain county-wide services. Greater Manchester was one of a minority of the affected urban areas in England to vote for such a new body under the Act of Parliament. AGMA had a constitution and committee structure, with the leaders of the ten district councils meeting regularly at its head to develop county-wide policies and services.
AGMA was an organisation with "permissive statutory powers", in that seven or more of the ten district councils had to formally vote it into existence, but once established it had delegated statutory powers, staff and budgets and as such AGMA developed policy, lobbied government and others, and ran a range of services designed to make strategic and tangible advances in the standards of living across Greater Manchester.
The Executive Board of AGMA was composed of representatives from Greater Manchester's ten metropolitan boroughs, and the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, the Greater Manchester Police Authority, the Greater Manchester Fire and Civil Defence Authority and the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, who were all members by subscription. [2] The local authorities of Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East and Warrington were associate members with representation at AGMA debates and meetings, but were excluded from voting processes. [2] AGMA also oversaw the management and policies of the Greater Manchester County Record Office, which preserved an archive with records of the local history of Greater Manchester, now known as "Archives+" and based in Manchester Central Library. The AGMA Policy and Research Unit was based in Wigan. [4]
AGMA also chose to operate a Section 48 Grants Committee, named after the part of the Act of Parliament which permitted a levy on the district councils to fund co-ordinated grants to voluntary organisations which operated across the Greater Manchester area and who might otherwise 'slip through the cracks'. The Greater Manchester Council for Voluntary Service had been instrumental in lobbying to strengthen the powers of Section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985 when it was still being debated as a Bill in the House of Lords.
During its 25 years of operations AGMA made representations on behalf of Greater Manchester to the government of the United Kingdom, the North West Development Agency, the European Union, [5] [6] business and other bodies, lobbying for investment and funding. AGMA actively pursued a formal and statutory government structure for Greater Manchester throughout the 2000s and made a successful bid to the UK's central government to constitute Greater Manchester as a Statutory City Region.
Perhaps one of AGMA's key and enduring innovations in devolved government was to spread the responsibilities for various statutory functions such as fire, waste, transport, grants, evenly around the leaders of the ten districts regardless of the size of the borough or of the political parties which controlled various boroughs at any one time, which helped to reduce some of the local rivalries and tensions and to create a forum for such conflicts to be debated and managed. Possibly this maturity prefigured the later creation of Combined Authorities and Elected Mayors. The ten districts were also the sole shareholders of Manchester Airport, another common interest.
The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) was established in 1986 following the Local Government Act 1985, which abolished the Greater Manchester County Council. It has operated as a voluntary association representing the collective interests of the local authorities within Greater Manchester and as a joint committee with responsibilities for a number of residual functions previously performed by the Greater Manchester County Council (such as public transport and waste management control). Section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985 provided AGMA with the powers to make funding grants to voluntary organisations, and the Act also provided for functions such as the Greater Manchester County Records Office. [7]
AGMA operated as a joint committee of the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities since its creation in 1986. Under its constitution (passed in 2008), the Executive Board of AGMA coordinated economic development, housing, planning, and together with the relevant statutory bodies, transport policies for Greater Manchester with a supporting structure of seven commissions. However, although the Executive Board had the power to establish the strategic commission, it was not a body corporate, and it has no formal functions in its own right. Those it has to depend on delegations from, or agreements by, its constituent local authorities as provided for in the Act of Parliament. [8]
The AGMA Executive met monthly to deal with strategic issues that impact Greater Manchester. AGMA also provided some joint services across Greater Manchester via AGMA Units and developed policies and strategic initiatives, including its Greater Manchester Strategy. [9]
As at January 2010, six commissions were in operation, being: [10]
Following a bid from AGMA highlighting the potential benefits in combatting the financial crisis of 2007–2010, it was announced in the 2009 United Kingdom Budget that Greater Manchester and the Leeds City Region would be awarded Statutory City Region Pilot status, allowing (if they desired) for their constituent district councils to pool resources and become statutory Combined Authorities with powers comparable to the Greater London Authority. [12] The aim of the pilot is to evaluate the contributions to economic growth and sustainable development by Combined Authorities. [13] The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 enabled the creation of a Combined Authority for Greater Manchester with devolved powers on public transport, skills, housing, regeneration, waste management, carbon neutrality and planning permission, pending approval from the ten councils. [12] [14] Such strategic matters would be decided on via a majority rule voting system involving ten members appointed from among the councillors of the ten metropolitan boroughs (one representing each borough of Greater Manchester with each council also nominating one substitute) without the input of the UK's central government. Committees will be formed from a pool of 33 councillors allocated by council population (roughly one councillor for every 75,000 residents) to scrutinise the running of bodies and their finances, approve the decisions and policies of said bodies and form strategic policy recommendations or projects for the approval of the ten-member panel. [12] The ten district councils of Greater Manchester approved the creation of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on 29 March 2010, and submitted its final recommendations for its constitution to the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Transport. On 31 March 2010 the Communities Secretary John Denham approved the constitution and launched a 15-week public consultation on the draft bill together with the approved constitution. [15] The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities requested that the new authority should be established in April 2011. [1] [16] [17] The Greater Manchester Combined Authority had its inaugural meeting on 1 April 2011. [18]
The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym City Hall, is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political branches: an executive Mayor and the 25-member London Assembly, which serves as a means of checks and balances on the Mayor. Since May 2016, both branches have been under the control of the London Labour Party. The authority was established in 2000, following a local referendum, and derives most of its powers from the Greater London Authority Act 1999 and the Greater London Authority Act 2007.
The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London, England; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at the same time as Greater London on 1 April 1965 by the London Government Act 1963 and are a type of local government district. Twelve were designated as Inner London boroughs and twenty as Outer London boroughs. The City of London, the historic centre, is a separate ceremonial county and sui generis local government district that functions quite differently from a London borough. However, the two counties together comprise the administrative area of Greater London as well as the London Region, all of which is also governed by the Greater London Authority, under the Mayor of London.
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester.
Metropolitan counties are a subdivision of England which were originally used for local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
The subdivisions of England constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.
Local government in England broadly consists of three layers: civil parishes, local authorities, and regional authorities. Every part of England is governed by at least one local authority, but parish councils and regional authorities do not exist everywhere. In addition, there are 31 police and crime commissioners, four police, fire and crime commissioners, and ten national park authorities with local government responsibilities. Local government is not standardised across the country, with the last comprehensive reform taking place in 1974.
The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton is a metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, named after its largest town, Bolton, but covering a larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Westhoughton, and part of the West Pennine Moors. It had a population of 298,903 in 2022, making it the third-most populous district in Greater Manchester.
The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham. The borough had a population of 243,912 in 2022, making it the sixth-largest district by population in Greater Manchester. The borough spans 142 square kilometres (55 sq mi).
A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a subdivision of England used for local government.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is a local government body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. It is an executive arm of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the city region's administrative authority. The strategies and policies of Transport for Greater Manchester are set by the GMCA and its Greater Manchester Transport Committee (GMTC). The committee is made up of 33 councillors appointed from the ten Greater Manchester boroughs, as well as the Mayor of Greater Manchester.
The Greater Manchester County Council (GMCC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater Manchester from 1974 to 1986. A strategic authority, with responsibilities for roads, public transport, planning, emergency services and waste disposal, it was composed of 106 directly elected members drawn from the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester. The Greater Manchester County Council shared power with ten lower-tier district councils, each of which directed local matters. It was also known as the Greater Manchester Council (GMC) and the Greater Manchester Metropolitan County Council (GMMCC).
Local authority areas in England typically have an executive leader and a cabinet selected from the local council, similar to how the national prime minister and cabinet are selected from Parliament. In contrast, residents of some areas, or groups of areas known as combined authorities or combined county authorities, directly elect the executive mayors of their local government.
The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) was England's largest waste disposal authority, responsible for the management and disposal of municipal waste from Greater Manchester. It dealt with 1.1 million tonnes of waste produced each year, from approximately 1 million households and a population of over 2.27 million in the metropolitan districts of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford — though part of Greater Manchester, the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan administers its own waste disposal operations, however they were represented on the authority for administration purposes. The waste came primarily from household waste collections and 20 household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) provided and serviced by the GMWDA. It handled around 4% of the nation's municipal waste.
The history of local government in England is one of gradual change and evolution since the Middle Ages. England has never possessed a formal written constitution, with the result that modern administration is based on precedent, and is derived from administrative powers granted to older systems, such as that of the shires.
The regions of England, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. They were established in 1994 and follow the 1974–96 county borders. They are a continuation of the former 1940s standard regions which followed the 1889–1974 administrative county borders. Between 1994 and 2011, all nine regions had partly devolved functions; they no longer fulfil this role, continuing to be used for limited statistical purposes.
A combined authority (CA) is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. CAs are created voluntarily and allow a group of local authorities to pool appropriate responsibility and receive certain devolved functions from central government in order to deliver transport and economic policy more effectively over a wider area. In areas where local government is two-tier, both must participate in the combined authority.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members; 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from one of the ten metropolitan boroughs that comprise Greater Manchester, together with the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester. The authority derives most of its powers from the Local Government Act 2000 and Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, and replaced a range of single-purpose joint boards and quangos to provide a formal administrative authority for Greater Manchester for the first time since the abolition of Greater Manchester County Council in 1986.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and skills. The creation of the Mayor of Greater Manchester was agreed between the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and Greater Manchester's 10 district council leaders. As well as having specific powers, the mayor chairs the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, also assuming the powers of the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner.
The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows for the introduction of directly elected mayors to combined authorities in England and Wales and the devolution of housing, transport, planning and policing powers to them. The bill was introduced to the House of Lords by Baroness Williams of Trafford, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on 28 May 2015.
The 2022 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. One third—20 out of 60—of councillors on Oldham Council was elected. The election took place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)