Valleys mayor 'could boost area'

A think-tank believes the south Wales Valleys should appoint a London-style mayor to help rejuvenate the region.

It is the main recommendation of the Institute of Welsh Affairs' (IWA) study Futures for the Heads of the Valleys.

It says the role would "energise" local politics and provide the area with a strong executive arm to ensure its problems are met more effectively.

It also believes a mayor could help to improve the region's housing, public transport, tourism and environment.

The IWA said the study had been inspired by the success of the London Mayor.

It said the recent May 2008 elections, which resulted in former Tory MP Boris Johnson being elected to the post, "showed how a democratic post of this sort has the ability to energise the political debate, and draw in candidates who can appeal to the electorate".

'Intractable problems'

The IWA believes the valleys would reap these same rewards if a new democratically elected mayor was appointed as the role would provide a "delivery mechanism" to help implement plans to improve the region.

In his contribution to the study, Professor Steve Fothergill, of the Centre for Economic and Social research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University, said the south Wales Valleys has "the most intractable problems of any older industrial area in the whole of Britain".

He added that while there are no "short cuts to regeneration" the injection of "something special" like a Valleys Mayor would help bring about improvements.

The IWA said the new role would not lead to another costly reorganisation of the area's existing local government set-up.

The mayor's powers would devolved from central government rather than being transferred upwards from the existing local authorities.

Instead, councils across the Valleys would continue to broadly carry out their current range of functions along the same lines as their London counterparts do under Mr Johnson.

The study believes the new mayoral role could help:

• Take advantage of the investment opportunities being opened up by the stock transfer of social housing in the valleys
• Upgrade the skills of young people
• Improve public transport, with the valleys ideally-suited to the creation of a fast light tram or rail system
• Develop social entrepreneurship to help bring the long-term unemployed back into work
• Bring investment into environmental improvement opportunities such as the Valleys Regional Park
• Promote the region's largely untapped tourism potential

In terms of tourism, the study has suggested that the region could benefit from the creation of an "Eden-style" spa hotel situated at the top end of the Rhondda valley.

The idea is put forward by Wales Millennium Centre architect Jonathan Adams.

He said the hotel would have the potential for regenerating the area's dramatic landscape which has suffered for so long as a result of the valleys' industrial past.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Centre for Economic and Social research (CRESR)
Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA)
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