00:00Now Manchester is an incredibly unique place for a number of reasons but one
00:03thing that makes it stand out from other cities and regions across the country is
00:06one word, devolution. Now everyone in Manchester will know the name of Andy
00:09Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester who was so vocal in speaking out for the
00:13North during the coronavirus pandemic. Now Burnham yields more power than many
00:16other mayors across England and that is again because of that word devolution.
00:19But what actually is it and how much power is given to the mayor? The mayor gets more
00:23control of local transport which is why we've seen such renewal with the B
00:25Network and Metrolink. He gets new planning powers to push development and
00:30he also got a certain amount of money to build 15,000 houses. So there are
00:34certainly some important things in there but the powers by no means make Andy
00:37Burnham into an all-powerful being. Manchester still relies on funding from
00:41the government and there are strict rules on what it can and cannot do.
00:43However with the scheme being a success a further deal was signed last year to
00:47allow some control over education as well as the railways. All this is to say
00:51the mayor and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority do have a lot of
00:53power but not over everything. So do you think that it's been a success for
00:57Manchester? Let us know in the comments below.
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