West Midlands Mayor takes the chair for first time
Mayor Andy Street was chairing his first meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority today.
Mr Street will conduct proceedings at Birmingham Council House alongside the leaders of the Black Country, Coventry, Birmingham, and Solihull councils.
This week the new Conservative mayor met with Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson at Lloyd House to discuss joint areas of working and priorities for the next three years and they were joined by West Midlands Police Chief Constable Dave Thompson.
Mr Jamieson said: “I congratulated Andy on his victory last week and re-iterated my commitment to work with the Mayor in the best interests of the people of the West Midlands.
“We discussed our shared approaches to tackling mental ill health, how we can give young people opportunities to steer them away from crime and gangs and build on the work I have started to drive investment into the region.
“In addition we discussed the hearings I have convened to improve the response to delays on our motorways and the role the new Mayor can now play to move this work forward.”
Mr Street said: “On election I stressed that I wanted to unite the leadership of the West Midlands. I was therefore very pleased to have early constructive discussions with the Police and Crime Commissioner as there are many areas where we need to work together.”
Mr Street has also revealed he is considering a pollution tax on diesel cars in the region.
