Strategic authority

History

Greater London Authority

The first strategic authority was the Greater London Authority made up of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly that was established in 2000.

Combined authorities and combined county authorities

The opportunity to create a "combined authority" was established by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. In 2010, the Government accepted a proposal from the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities to establish a Greater Manchester Combined Authority, using the powers of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, as an indirectly elected top-tier strategic authority for Greater Manchester. It was created on 1 April 2011. The Localism Act 2011 allowed additional transfers of powers from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and gave combined authorities a general power of competence.

By 2016 combined authorities had been created covering all of the metropolitan counties which include conurbations of the largest cities outside London. In 2016 and 2017, combined authorities started to be created for smaller city regions. Any principal council can become a constituent member of a combined authority.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduced a similar type of strategic authority outside Greater London, the "combined county authority". The key difference is that these authorities must include the whole area of one or more two-tier non-metropolitan counties. They may also include unitary authorities, but two-tier non-metropolitan districts cannot be constituent members.

Since 2023 combined (county) authorities are being created for more rural areas.

English devolution act

In December 2024 the Starmer ministry published a white paper which proposed that the Greater London Authority, combined authorities (CAs), and combined county authorities (CCAs) would be designated as strategic authorities. These authorities would have competence over transport and local infrastructure, skills and employment support, housing and strategic planning, economic development and regeneration, environment and climate change, health, wellbeing and public service reform, and public safety. The government said it intended to "complete the map" of devolution so every part of England would be covered by one strategic authority and one principal council.

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Powers and functions

Current

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 defines the competencies of strategic authorities as follows

transport and local infrastructure, including the production of local transport plans
skills and employment support
housing
strategic planning including the production of spatial development strategies
economic development and regeneration
the environment and climate change
health and well-being
public service reform
public safety
culture
rural affairs and coastal communities

Upcoming

proportion of income tax (Apr 2028)
proportion of business rates (Apr 2027)

Areas

The strategic authority areas are the geographic areas of England, made up of one or more local government area, with a strategic authority in place. These are commonly known as devolved areas, combined authority areas, areas, city regions or regions.

The Greater London strategic authority area is coterminous with the London region. Outside of Greater London, the strategic authority areas are not to be confused with the geographically larger regions of England which are statistical areas that each had a regional development agency until 2012. For example, the North East England region is covered by two strategic authority areas: North East and Tees Valley. As of June 2026, strategic authority areas cover all of northern England and some parts of the rest of England. A majority of strategic authority areas are coterminous with one or two of the ceremonial counties of England.

List of strategic authorities

As of June 2026, there are twenty strategic authorities which consist of 2 foundation, 7 mayoral and 11 established:

Partnership and cooperation

Where strategic authorities have mayors, they are members of the Mayoral Council for England,, the National Economic Council, and of the UK-wide Council of the Nations and Regions, both of which were established by the incoming Labour government in 2024.

The Great North

In May 2025, eight strategic authority mayors from the North of England launched a partnership known as "The Great North". The partnership comprises 11 contiguous northern strategic authorities, eight of which are currently mayoral (Greater Manchester, Hull and East Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, North East, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, West Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire) and three others (Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Lancashire). The partnership, whose brand is based on the Great North Run, will lead trade missions and focus on pan-North investment propositions including hosting a Northern investment summit. Transport in The Great North partnership area has been integrated under the statutory body Transport for the North since 2018.

International relations

Representation in intergovernmental organisations

Some of the strategic authorities of England are represented internationally.

The mayor of London is responsible for the Greater London Authority's international relations. The London Assembly nominates one member to the Chamber of Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. The Greater London Authority is an associate member of Eurocities and a member of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

Within the United Kingdom, strategic authority mayors represent their regions on the Council of Nations and Regions.

Missions

The Greater London Authority maintains a representative office in Brussels.