New Weca mayor takes office after election win

The new mayor for the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) has been sworn in.

Labour's Helen Godwin retained the seat for the party with 25% of the vote - Reform's Arron Banks came second with 22% and Mary Page of the Green Party came in third with approximately 20%.

Ms Godwin has now been sworn in alongside the leaders of the councils that make up the authority - Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

"It's quite surreal but we worked really hard to be here and I think we're going to get a lot done," she said.

"I really want to deliver for people and we've campaigned really hard over the last six months and I've learned a lot about the region that I didn't know and I want to bring all that knowledge into the role," she added.

Ms Godwin has announced that the position of deputy mayor will be a rotating one during her tenure.

Councillor Kevin Guy, leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, will be the first to hold the position of deputy mayor.

The Weca mayor is responsible for allocating funding to areas such as transport, housing and job opportunities.

Transport in particular will be a key issue for the new mayor - with much of the region relying on buses to get around.

"All the way through the campaign we talked about buses and people spoke to me about buses," said Ms Godwin.

"Whether they're in the centre of Bristol, the centre of Bath or the surrounding towns and villages - people are dissatisfied with the reliability and accessibility of the service.

"My priority is to unpick all of that and figure out what we can deliver quickly and over the medium term so people feel the difference," she added.

The new mayor will have to work with three councils to organise new transport routes - including Bristol where discussions around a mass transit system have been ongoing for years.

"Transport and connectivity is a key challenge," said Green councillor Tony Dyer, leader of Bristol City Council.

"It's kind of a chicken-and-egg situation that in order to get a better transport system we need to improve public transport, and at the same time we need to remove some of the space currently available for cars," he added.

Ms Godwin takes over the position of Weca mayor from Dan Norris, who was arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences in April.

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