Devolution

Greater Manchester's councils have a long history of working together. This record of co-operation led to the creation of the GMCA and helped Greater Manchester lead the way on city-region devolution with a statutory city region pilot in 2009. The 2014 Devolution Agreement with Government gives the region additional powers, and greater accountability through an elected mayor. The mayor chairs the GMCA and was first elected by Greater Manchester voters in May 2017..

Subsequent deals built upon this innovative agreement, including a £6 billion health and social care devolution deal in February 2015. Since then, there have been  further deals that have brought new powers and responsibilities to the city region. Full information on these can be found on the Gov.uk website (link opens in a new window).

Greater Manchester's Seven Devolution Deals (PDF, 891KB)

New powers

Through these devolution agreements, the region has more powers and control over budgets, including: 

• more control of local transport, with a long-term government budget to help us plan a more modern, better-connected network
• new planning powers to encourage regeneration and development
• a new £300 million fund for housing: enough for an extra 15,000 new homes over ten years
• extra funding to get up to 50,000 people back into work
• incentives to skills providers to develop more work-related training
• extra budget to support and develop local businesses
• the mayor taking on the powers of a Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner, with oversight of both GMP and GMFRS.
• control of investment through a new 'earn back' funding arrangement which gives us extra money for the region's infrastructure if we reach certain levels of economic growth