Council leaders agreed a massive 75 per cent hike in staffing costs at the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) during another dysfunctional meeting. Weca committee was adjourned for 100 minutes while Labour metro mayor Dan Norris, who heads the organisation, and the leaders of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils thrashed out a deal over how money should be spent.
Mr Norris’s annual budget proposed increasing the number of Weca employees by 36 per cent, with the total wage bill going up from £9.6million to £17.6million in the 12 months from April. He said the extra officers were vital to delivering key projects, such as new railway stations, and warned that schemes would suffer delays and future funding could be jeopardised if the budget was not passed at the meeting on Friday, January 27.
Following the lengthy private talks, the politicians agreed to hold back £800,000 of the proposed £8million increase, with South Gloucestershire Council leader Conservative Cllr Toby Savage claiming victory for the rethink, saying the cash could be directed towards public services instead of “Weca’s corporate functions”. At the heart of the row is the fact that the metro mayor does not have a vote on his own budget, which needs unanimous approval from Cllr Savage, B&NES council leader Lib Dem Cllr Kevin Guy and Bristol’s Labour mayor Marvin Rees.
