Metro Mayor unveils new team to drive Liverpool City Region forward

LIVERPOOL City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has announced a co-opted member of the Combined Authority and the 1st raft of Mayoral advisers who will provide strategic support over the next 3 years. The existing Combined Authority members, made up of the Metro Mayor, the 6 Local Authority leaders, the Chair of the City Region LEP and the Chair of Merseytravel, have agreed to co-opt Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Jane Kennedy to provide expertise on the area of criminal justice.  Labour Metro Mayor Rotheram has also appointed an initial group of advisers to support his administration on areas including; Higher Education, Voluntary and Community sector, Natural Environment, Social Housing Growth, Homelessness, Mental Health and the Visitor Economy. The appointment of Mayoral advisers is about utilising independent strategic advice from talent across the Liverpool City Region who will support the bold programme and vision of the Metro Mayor. Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said:- "I am delighted that the Combined Authority has unanimously agreed to co-opt Jane Kennedy. The Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner will provide a strong voice for the criminal justice system within the current structure; a logical extension of her current responsibilities which includes serving as Chair of the Merseyside Criminal Justice Board and the Merseyside Community Safety Partnership. I am also thrilled that such a talented group of individuals have agreed to work with me to help broaden the scope of the devolution deal and implement the convening powers of office. The role of the advisers is about utilising experts from right across Merseyside and Halton who are doing pioneering work in their fields to improve business opportunities and the lives of ordinary people."

Commenting on her appointment to the Combined Authority, Jane Kennedy said:- "I welcomed the invitation from Steve Rotheram for me to join the Combined Authority as a co-opted member. It demonstrates his intention to broaden the membership and expertise of the Board. I will do my best to assist the on going development of the regional structure, whilst working closely with my colleague David Keane, Cheshire PCC, to ensure the interests of all the people of the City region are represented with regard to policing, victim support and criminal justice matters. I look forward to working with Steve and his colleagues on the cabinet to drive public service reforms for the benefit of people across the region."

Speaking about supporting the Metro Mayor as an adviser, Luciana Berger MP said:- "I look forward to championing mental health across the Liverpool City Region as 1 of Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram's new advisers. It is a huge task and 1 that I am delighted to have been asked to push forward."

Metro Mayor tells property sector:- "City Region must raise its ambition to compete and prosper."

LIVERPOOL City Region Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram has told a gathering of some of the region's leading property professionals, that the area must raise its level of ambition to create the long term prosperity necessary to support a vibrant property market. Speaking at the Business Insider Regional property Awards at Liverpool's Titanic Hotel last night, he told his audience:- "The most important single message that I want to deliver tonight, is that our City Region must upscale its level of ambition and we must define our future economic vision as a place that creates and sustains more high value employment, builds more successful businesses and attracts greater levels of UK and international investment. The property and development industry are driven by demand for space and fuelled by economic growth. Our agendas are perfectly aligned." Setting out a compelling and confident prospectus for the future, the Metro Mayor set out 6 key objectives that will underpin his approach to drive economic growth and attract additional investment into the region. These were:-

► A Strategic Economic Review and Industrial Strategy to provide a robust evidence base and clear priorities for future economic growth.

► A review of the roles of the City Region's different marketing, investment and economic agencies to create a single organisation aiming to make the area one of the UK's top international investment destinations. 

► A new joined up approach, where the region's boroughs would no longer compete for investment, but pool their assets and strengths for mutual benefit,  with closer integration of planning, housing, skills and economic development policies across the City Region.

► A more targeted and sophisticated approach to pursuing investment leads, directly targeting key investment decision-makers and focusing on areas where the City Region had a specific competitive edge or usp.

► A much stronger partnership with private business and the property sector, utilising the influence and relationships of key business leaders as ambassadors for the region.

► A closer and more collaborative relationship with our neighbouring City Region, Greater Manchester, recognising common interests and our increased economic interdependence.

Steve Rotheram also identified the need for the City Region to ensure that it was providing the right kind of development to meet the needs of its future economy and residents.   He said that:-  "To be genuinely competitive we  need to be delivering a competitive and appropriate product.  We need a pipeline of high quality Grade A offices as well flexible and innovative work space configured to the requirements of a new kind of urban entrepreneurialism. We need to be building homes that are attractive, affordable and in the right place, close to transport, connected to work and in well designed and sustainable neighbourhoods."  Promising a new era of ambition, realism and joined-up thinking, he suggested that in an increasingly unstable and unpredictable world, the less able the City Region was to control events beyond its boundaries, the more it needed to create certainty, stability and consistency within them.  "Strong relationships, mutual trust, shared goals, policy and political consistency, a long-term perspective and the right institutional architecture are the foundations for future prosperity. They are powerful signals to the outside world, that we are open for business"