The new mayor of York and North Yorkshire says he may not follow his fellow Labour mayors elsewhere in the region by moving to take local bus services under public control. Marking 100 days since he was elected, David Skaith said the amount of rural space in his patch meant the bus franchising idea first adopted in Greater Manchester may not work locally. Read more: 'If everywhere built as many homes as Leeds, there'd be no housing crisis' Speaking to The Northern Agenda political podcast , he said "nothing's off the cards" in terms of how to improve bus services but that his team had only just started the process of deciding which approach to take.
His fellow newly-elected Labour mayor, Kim McGuinness, started the process towards franchising on her first day after being elected in the North East. West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin has formally decided to adopt franchising - where control of routes and ticketing is taken away from private bus firms and handed to public officials - and South Yorkshire's Oliver Coppard appears likely to follow suit. Buses, houses and whether he'd stand up to Starmer: David Skaith talks about his first 100 days as mayor on the Northern Agenda podcast.
Listen here . The new Labour government has promised to make it easier for metro mayors to take buses under public control as a way of reversing decades of declining services. The problem is thought to be particularly acute away from the big urban centres.
But Mr Skaith said he didn't know if a franchising system like the one mayor Andy Burnham has brought in for Greater Manchester - and is showing early signs of improving services - would work in York and North Yorkshire. "We've got so much space, it's just going to be so much harder to join people up", he said in an interview at his office in York. "So we are quite literally in the process this week of looking at what direction we're going to go, if it's a full franchise model, if it's an [Enhanced Partnership Plus model, where local authority officials play a bigger role in designing services] whatever that may be.
"But we are working closely with York and North Yorkshire Council to develop our transport plan around bus franchising, if that's the way we go. Read more: York expert makes bombshell claim about Tutankhamun's death mask that changes everything "Nothing's off the cards in terms of it at the minute. It's just that it has been 100 days.
I know Kim's a little bit further ahead on it, but we've just prioritised some other things at the minute." Mr Skaith said he was working with fellow Yorkshire mayors to improve connectivity across the whole region and had been talking to locals in Selby about how to improve connections into South Yorkshire. His combined authority is bringing in a head of its transport team to focus more on this key policy area.
And he was also due to meet Chris Boardman, the former Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist and now National Active Travel Commissioner, about how to boost walking and cycling. To get a free digest of politics and public affairs from across Yorkshire and the North of England, subscribe to The Northern Agenda newsletter here As the first ever metro mayor for York and North Yorkshire, Mr Skaith has powers devolved from government and £540m of funding to spend over 30 years to grow the economy. He says £27.
5 million has been agreed in principle to progress funds across key areas of work, while a 10-year economic growth plan is being worked up to this summer. Funding has also been approved to build homes on previously developed 'brownfield' land as part of the region's efforts to meet its challenging housing targets imposed by the new Labour government. Mr Skaith and his fellow metro mayors met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer within days of Labour's General Election win and were told they were key achieving the economic growth the country so desperately needs.
The meeting was described by all involved as positive and since then Cabinet Ministers like Rachel Reeves, Ed Miliband and Steve Reed have come to meet the York and North Yorkshire mayor. But asked if he was willing to stand up to his own Labour government if they were making decisions he didn't agree with, he said: "Of course, it isn't going to be sunshine and rainbows every day. Read more: Sprawling Yorkshire home worth £2.
5 million up for grabs in prize draw "That's he world we live in. We live in the world of politics, where we are going to be standing here for the best for York and North Yorkshire. "That is the beauty of having a Combined Authority and a mayor because you can speak on your behalf.
So what works for say, [London mayor Sadiq Khan] or Andy or Kim wouldn't necessarily work for us in York and North Yorkshire. "So I'm sure there's going to be times when we don't agree on everything, of course, that is human nature. I'm not going to sit and say everything's going to be perfect all the time.
"I will act on the best for York and North Yorkshire and continue to work closely with all the MPs in the region and York and North Yorkshire county council to do the best for our region." Get all the latest and breaking news in Yorkshire by signing up to our newsletter here..
