About us
Welcome to West Midlands Combined Authority about us section, where you can find out more about our organisation.
We bring together local councils, a directly elected Mayor and regional partners to drive growth, improve services and create opportunities across the West Midlands.
Established in 2016, WMCA was created to give the region greater control over funding, decision-making and long-term priorities, enabling the West Midlands to deliver change at a regional scale.
This year marks 10 years of impact for the organisation as we continue our transition into a future-facing organisation with greater devolved powers secured from central Government to turbo-charge our region.
You can read our constitution to find out more about how we run the WMCA.
We are not a council. You don’t pay council tax to us and we don’t collect your bins - your local authority does this.
What we do
We focus on major strategic areas that work best at a regional level, including:
- Transport and connectivity through Transport for West Midlands
- Economic growth and investment - read our West Midlands Growth Plan for more
- Skills and employment – read our West Midlands Works Plan for more
- Housing and regeneration – read about the Mayor's Homes for Everyone taskforce
- We work alongside local councils, businesses, investors, anchor institutions and government to deliver projects and programmes that improve everyday life for residents
We work alongside local councils, businesses and government to deliver projects and programmes that improve everyday life for residents – Link to governance pages
Who leads West Midlands Combined Authority?
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, is the chair of West Midlands Combined Authority. You can find out more details via our Mayor of the West Midlands pages.
Our chief executive is Ed Cox.
How we work
We work collaboratively, bringing together partners from across the region to:
- Align priorities and funding
- Deliver large-scale programmes
- Support long-term economic growth
- Local councils continue to deliver day-to-day services, while WMCA focuses on regional leadership, coordination and investment lead by the Mayor of the West Midlands.
Why this matters
By working together at a regional level, WMCA can:
- Secure investment for the West Midlands
- Deliver large-scale infrastructure and regeneration
- Support people and businesses to succeed
You can see more on our membership and structure below.
These local councils have full voting rights on any decision we make:
- 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
Some local councils have reduced voting rights. They are:
- Cannock Chase District Council
- North Warwickshire Borough Council
- Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council
- Redditch Borough Council
- Rugby Borough Council
- Shropshire Council
- Stratford-on-Avon District Council
- Tamworth Borough Council
- Telford and Wrekin Council
- Warwickshire County Council
- Warwick District Council
These observer organisations come to our meetings but don’t vote:
- West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority
- West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner