Mayor is “available for birthday parties” as he asks for scrutiny to increase with responsibility from national government
“I'm available for anything, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties - you name it, I’ll go and do it"
The Mayor of South Yorkshire has urged people to reach out to him in a bid to attract more visibility and scrutiny to his role, in line with increasing responsibility that regional Mayors are being given from the Government.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has recently announced more powers for regional elected Mayors, including South Yorkshire's Oliver Coppard, around planning decisions in their areas and allowing them to receive a share of income tax.
Sheffield City Councillor Joe Otten questioned Mr Coppard at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s (SYMCA) Overview and Scrutiny meeting yesterday (September 8).
Coun Otten said people often come to the council with issues that SYMCA is responsible for, and vice versa.
Mr Coppard said people not knowing where to go with their issues is a “problem that has bedevilled local politics for a long time”.
“I think there's something about our political culture that prioritises MPs," he said.
“Councillors do an incredibly important job in local communities and aren't always seen by local people."
He said Mayors are doing “big things”, yet sometimes people will go to their MP when “I've got more ability to solve those problems.”
He said: “I try my best to be as visible as I can be,” mentioning his BBC radio show 'Call Coppard' and frequent public events.
“I'm available for anything, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties - you name it, I’ll go and do it."
He hopes that given Andy Burnham's focus on the north and regional devolution, people may be beginning to better understand the role of Mayors.
“It is the right thing that somebody locally, regionally can take responsibility and get things done more quickly than leaving that to a national government in London who don't always know the communities they are taking decisions about.
"There is agency in this organisation to solve problems that they want solving."
However, he said this comes with a need for further transparency of the decisions SYMCA takes.
“One of the ways I think you allow people to understand what goes on in this organisation is to be more transparent, more accountable, more available for scrutiny and make that more of a thing that the public can engage with.”
As well as more scrutiny from the press, Mr Coppard said he would be interested in “alternative methods of scrutiny” like citizens juries or committees of community representatives.
He would like an approach that included "people empowered locally" asking questions in a formal way and being supported to do that effectively.