Today Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, unveiled Councillor Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council, as the Deputy Mayor of the West of England: the first appointment of a Green Party politician as Deputy Mayor of any combined authority.
This follows Mayor Godwin last May making Councillor Kevin Guy, Leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council, a Liberal Democrat, her first Deputy Mayor. That appointment had already made the West of England nationally unusual, with the regional Mayor and Deputy Mayor being from different political parties.
The move comes just weeks after the English Devolution & Community Empowerment Act, a historic piece of legislation from the national government, received Royal Assent. The landmark new law includes electoral reform to restore the supplementary voting system for mayoral elections, something lobbied for and welcomed by the region’s Mayor.
Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said:
“I’m delighted to appoint Tony as my next Deputy Mayor and know that he, like Kevin, will do a great job.
“We are united around an ambitious vision for transport, with better buses, more trains, mass transit plans, and much more in the works thanks to record government funding. And, next week, we will together bang the drum for investment in tens of thousands of new homes and new jobs for our part of the world.
“Across the West, council leaders and I share a progressive agenda for the future of our region. From reopening the Portishead railway line through the £200 million contract signed at the end of April, to lifting children out of poverty through abolition of the two-child cap and our own regional action plan, we are determined to ensure that people can see and feel a real difference.”
Councillor Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council and the new Deputy Mayor of the West of England, said:
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to take on the role of Deputy Mayor for the coming 12 months and wish to thank Cllr Kevin Guy for his work over the last year.
“Our region has vast potential for economic growth that brings real benefits to communities in Bristol and right across the West of England. Over the coming 12 months I will work with Helen to progress on our ambitions to deliver the housing our region needs, secure further investment in transport and support people’s skills and employment options.
“By working together across council boundaries and political parties, we can build on that potential – delivering the homes, transport and opportunities our residents need. I look forward to working closely with the Mayor and fellow leaders to make sure we continue to turn this shared ambition into real, tangible change for people across our region.”
The news was announced this morning in south Bristol at the site of 53 new council homes built by Goram Homes, the city council’s housing company, in partnership with Hill Group. These are the first new homes to be built as part of the wider 1,434-home Hengrove Park project, the city’s largest council house-building project in a generation, supported by £20 million of funding from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority as well as support from Homes England. Half of these new homes will be affordable (available through social rent or shared ownership).
The Mayor and council leaders have prioritised cross-council and cross-party working over the last year – turning the page on the past nine years in an effort to make the most of devolution in a new chapter for the West of England, which is proud to be the fastest-growing regional economy in the whole country. The Mayor has also reaffirmed her intention to rotate the post on an annual basis between the leaders of the West’s councils – including North Somerset, who are considering plans to join the combined authority after the proposal was backed by a recent public consultation.
Last week, Mayor Godwin reflected on achievements during her first year in office, which saw around £1 billion of funding announced by the government and over 1.4 million free bus journeys taken by the region’s children during the summer, Christmas, and Easter holidays thanks to a nationally unique Kids Go Free scheme which has seen the number of bus journeys from the lowest-income areas double year-on-year. The regional authority has also recently frozen children’s bus fares at £1 until spring 2029, a move set to save families almost £4.5 million by spring 2029, by investing some of its Bus Grant secured from Government.
The West is currently building four new train stations as part of a £400 million programme which has already opened two stations in recent years. Bristol Brabazon is expected to open this autumn at a site on the cusp of becoming one of the government’s new towns; Charfield is due to open next spring; and Pill and Portishead are set to open in winter 2028/29. Work continuing to progress plans for Henbury, with studies looking at further potential stations to add to the region’s growing rail network as part of an emerging £940 million transport plan.
The Mayor has also set out ambitious goals for the coming twelve months – including the continued roll-out of more than 250 green buses, through a £150 million investment from the region, government, and First Bus, and the promise of exciting news for nature in the coming weeks. That environmental investment would follow on from the first trees being planted as part of the Western Forest, the country’s first new national forest in decades, and looks set to coincide with the region’s Festival of Nature, the UK’s largest free celebration of the natural world.
There is also expected to be a renewed push from the West of England – with Cardiff Capital Region and like-minded partners around the Mersey in Liverpool City Region – towards harnessing tidal power. The Severn Estuary has the second-largest tidal range in the world. An independent commission recommended a series of tidal energy lagoons, which could boost the economy by more than £32 billion and produce up to 5GW, enough electricity to power more than 4 million homes: more than every home in Wales and South West England combined. Clean energy is a key sector in the region’s Growth Strategy, with the West aiming to build on the fastest job growth in the sector anywhere in the country over the last ten years (+140%).
The Mayor’s other top priorities for the next year include decisions on how to take more control of the region’s bus network; developing mass transit plans for key routes as part of a transport network that people can trust, something welcomed by government, business, and transport leaders; promoting investment opportunities for tens of thousands of new homes and new jobs, including in Bristol Temple Quarter and Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc; and progressing efforts to ensure that every child and young people has the opportunities that they deserve, with a new Skills Strategy set to be published within the next month.
Mayor Godwin and Councillor Dyer previously worked together as councillors on Bristol City Council in 2021, when Dyer was elected and Godwin was re-elected (and served as a Cabinet Member with portfolios including children, families, housing, and women).
The Hengrove Park development is being delivered on the doorstep of Hengrove Leisure Centre, home to Bristol’s only Olympic-sized pool; City of Bristol College’s South Bristol Skills Academy and the combined-authority-funded Advanced Construction Skills Centre; and South Bristol Community Hospital. The area is served by the nearby and soon-to-be-extended metrobus route, operating from the region’s first fully-electrified bus depot around the corner. More than 22 hectares of public park land will be retained, with a new community centre, sports pavilion, Scout hut, commercial, office, and education spaces set to be built. An on-site energy centre will provide each home with low carbon heating and hot water too.