Greg Clark has announced 15 November as the date for the first round of mayoral elections (at least for those cities that say 'yes' in the 3 May referendums).
While broadly supportive of the government's localism efforts I am sceptical about the claims that this will drive economic growth. I outlined the details of my arguments last June. In short, I don't think there is much evidence that mayors increase economic growth. That said, there is not much evidence against this proposition either and I am in favour of experimentation when it comes to government policy in this area.
For some of these mayors, the success of negotiations on city deals will be crucial in determining their power. For those of you that are interested in this particular aspect, SERC's Max Nathan discusses some of the central issue surrounding city deals here.
CEP Urban and Spatial Programme Blog (formerly SERC)
