West Midlands Combined Authority

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is a combined authority for the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom. It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. The authority formally came into being on 17 June 2016.

West Midlands Combined Authority
Type
Type	Combined authority of West Midlands (county)
Houses	Unicameral
Term limits	None
History
Founded	17 June 2016
Preceded by	West Midlands County Council
Leadership
Mayor of the West Midlands (Chair)	Andy Street[1], Conservative since 5 May 2017
Deputy Mayor of the West Midlands (Vice-Chair)	Bob Sleigh[2], Conservative since 12 May 2017
Chief Executive	Laura Shoaf [3] since 10 November 2021
Structure
Seats	Mayor + 7 Council Leaders
Political groups	Labour (4)   Conservative (4) - inc. Mayor
Elections
Voting system	Direct election Supplementary vote (SV)
Last election	May 2021
Meeting place
16 Summer Lane Birmingham
Website
www.wmca.org.uk

There are seven indirectly elected members, who are councillors from the seven West Midlands county local authorities, as well as the Mayor of the West Midlands, who is directly elected by the county's residents.^[4]

Local authorities in the West Midlands county

• Birmingham City Council
• City of Wolverhampton Council
• Coventry City Council
• Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
• Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
• Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
• Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

There are also ten local authorities from outside the West Midlands county who have fewer rights