Greater Essex Combined County Authority

Proposed local government body in England

Greater Essex Combined County Authority

Area covered by the proposed Greater Essex Combined County Authority

Type
Type|

Combined county authority

of Essex

History
Founded| April 2026 (planned)
Leadership

Mayor

TBD

Elections

Voting system

| Directly elected mayor

Next election

| 2 May 2026

The Greater Essex Combined County Authority (GECCA) or simply the Greater Essex Combined Authority (GECA) is a proposed combined county authority for the ceremonial county of Essex, also known as Greater Essex, in the East of England.[a]

## History

[edit]

### Background

[edit]

Historically, the entire ceremonial county of Essex was administered by Essex County Council in a two-tier system with lower tier district councils. This system continues in most of the county today, but in 1998 the districts of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea were granted unitary authority status, making them administratively independent from the county council.[3][4] Essex Police and the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service continued to cover the entire county after 1998.[5][6] In 2012, the elected county-wide position of Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner was introduced.[b] The three upper-tier authorities of Essex have also continued to work together on different issues since 1998.[4]

Since 1999, the UK Government has devolved powers to local parliaments, assemblies, authorities and mayors in the nations and regions of the UK.[10][11] In 2009, it introduced combined authorities which can be formed by volunteering groups of local authorities in England, to which the government can devolve powers to. In 2023, the similar combined county authority was also introduced. Both authorities can be led by directly elected mayors, or can be led by a body indirectly appointed by their member authorities.[12]

### Early proposals

[edit]

After the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the coalition government of David Cameron pledged to devolve powers to city regions in England by negotiating devolution deals with local councils to form combined authorities.[13][14] In September 2014, Essex County Council leader David Finch called on the government to explore establishing combined authorities for counties like Essex, with the devolution of tax raising powers, funding for social services and other policy areas.[14] In November 2014, Finch and the leaders of the district councils in the county council area co-wrote a letter to the government which asked it to begin negotiations with council leaders across Essex to agree an Essex devolution deal, arguing that devolution would bring economic growth and other benefits to the county.[15]

Negotiations for an Essex devolution deal, or a Greater Essex devolution deal[16] as it also became known,[a] began in December 2014, with Essex County Council, Thurrock Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council discussing the formation of a Greater Essex Combined Authority (GECA) with the government.[17][18][19] Finch envisioned the combined authority being led by a county governor, who would have a role similar to the elected metro mayors of devolved city regions such as Greater London and Greater Manchester, though he was also willing to accept other arrangements if preferred by the government.[16][20] All fifteen upper tier and lower tier councils in Essex registered their interest in the Greater Essex Combined Authority, though Colchester Borough Council, Thurrock Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council were reluctant to fully commit to the proposal because of financial concerns.[13][21]

In January 2015, Thurrock Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council put forward a proposal of their own to create a South Essex Combined Authority[22][23] or Essex Thameside Combined Authority,[24] which would run along the northern bank of the River Thames and include Thurrock and Southend and the district councils of Basildon, Rochford and Castle Point in the county council area, which would form a land bridge between the two unitary councils.[13][21] Thurrock and Southend argued that these southern parts of Essex, which are mainly urban, constituted a distinct economic zone with few links to the mainly rural central and northern parts of the county.[22][25] Thurrock Council leader John Kent and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council leader Ron Woodley claimed that their proposal was supported by local businesses,[26] while the district councils considered separating from the rest of Essex because of Essex County Council's policy of turning off the majority of street lights at night, which they opposed.[22]

## Notes and references

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### Notes

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1. ^ a b Essex is the name of both the administrative county administered by Essex County Council and the ceremonial county which also includes the two independent unitary authority areas of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea. To distinguish between the two, the term Greater Essex is also used to name the ceremonial county in an administrative context.[1][2]
2. ^ The office of Essex Police and Crime Commissioner was introduced in 2012.[7] In 2017, the office was granted responsibility for the fire service and renamed Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.[8][9]

### References

[edit]

1. ^ "PURE Regional Profile: ESSEX, UNITED KINGDOM" (PDF). PASCAL International Observatory. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 22 February 2025.1-2&rft_id=https://pascalobservatory.org/sites/default/files/rp_-_essex_0.pdf&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Greater+Essex+Combined+County+Authority" class="Z3988">
2. ^ "Greater Essex Devolution: Draft Expression of Interest" (PDF). Thurrock Council. 13 February 2023. p. 1. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
3. ^ Meyler, Piers; Critchel, Matthew (16 December 2024). "Super authorities in Essex? 'Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic'". East Anglia Bylines. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
4. ^ a b "Greater Essex devolution consultation: Establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority across Essex, Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea". Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. 17 February 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
5. ^ Williams, Judith (18 December 2017). The Little History of Essex. The History Press. p. 170\. ISBN 978-0-7509-8514-7. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
6. ^ "Essex County Fire and Rescue Service". Fire England. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
7. ^ Reason, Matt (25 July 2017). "Essex Police and Crime Commissioner gets go ahead to take over fire service from October 2017". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
8. ^ "Essex crime commissioner takes over fire service". BBC News. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
9. ^ "Roger Hirst takes on role as country's first Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner". Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
10. ^ "Devolution: A beginner's guide". BBC News. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
11. ^ Easton, Mark (7 November 2014). "UK What Next? Mark Easton's devolution road trip". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
12. ^ McCabe, Helen (9 January 2025). "Community engagement with English devolution". UK Parliament. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
13. ^ a b c McGurran, Deborah (7 November 2015). "Devolution marathon under way in East of England". BBC News. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
14. ^ a b Smulian, Mark (25 September 2014). "Counties attack Cameron over devolution plans". Local Government Chronicle. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
15. ^ "Essex Devolution Letter" (PDF). Letter to George Osbourne, William Hague and Eric Pickles. Essex County Council. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2025.`{{cite press release}}`: CS1 maint: others (link)
16. ^ a b "Local Government Chronicle 100". Local Government Chronicle. 25 November 2015. 89: David Finch. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
17. ^ "Report of the Leader of the Council: Devolution – Progress and Next Steps" (PDF). Tendring District Council. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
18. ^ "Report to the Cabinet: Greater Essex Devolution" (PDF). Epping Forest District Council. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
19. ^ "Report of the Chief Executive to Council: Devolution for Greater Essex" (PDF). Maldon District Council. 4 February 2016. p. 3. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
20. ^ "LGC Briefing: Mayoral merry-go-round". Local Government Chronicle. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
21. ^ a b Smulian, Mark; Paine, David (6 August 2015). "Devolution: August 2015". Local Government Chronicle. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
22. ^ a b c Smulian, Mark (9 March 2015). "Heseltine pulled into Essex combined authorities row". Local Government Chronicle. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
23. ^ "Southend Local Transport Plan 3 Strategy Document 2011 - 2026" (PDF). Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. January 2015. p. 29. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
24. ^ Smulian, Mark; Paine, David (26 February 2015). "The future shape of local government". Local Government Chronicle. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
25. ^ Smulian, Mark (16 January 2015). "Combined authority plans disputed as partnership collapses". Local Government Chronicle. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
26. ^ G., Peter (5 September 2015). "Steps for super-authority including Thurrock moves a step closer". Your Thurrock. Retrieved 25 February 2025.

* v
* t
* e

Combined authorities and combined county authorities in England

Legislation|

* Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009
* Localism Act 2011
* Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016
* Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023
* English Devolution Bill

Current|

* Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (Mayor)
* Devon and Torbay
* East Midlands (Mayor)
* Greater Lincolnshire (Mayor)
* Greater Manchester (Mayor)
* Hull and East Yorkshire (Mayor)
* Lancashire
* Liverpool City Region (Mayor)
* North East (Mayor)
* South Yorkshire (Mayor)
* Tees Valley (Mayor)
* West of England (Mayor)
* West Midlands (Mayor)
* West Yorkshire (Mayor)
* York and North Yorkshire (Mayor)

Approved|

* Greater Essex
* Hampshire and the Solent

Proposed|

* Heart of Wessex

Defunct|

* North of Tyne (Mayor)
* North East (non-mayoral)

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