Councils and combined authorities

Metro mayors are the poster boys for devolution, but councils have a vital but often unappreciated role in combined authorities – soon to be renamed strategic authorities. With the government planning to ‘complete the map’ of devolution in England and reform how strategic authorities operate, this episode of the Local Authority podcast examines the relationship between strategic authorities and their constituent councils. Acting editor Martin George is joined by Mark Rogers, associate director of the Leadership Centre, who has led teams establishing three new combined authorities, and Akash Paun, a programme director at the Institute for Government, where he leads the institute’s devolution programme.

You can listen to Councils and combined authorities online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Councils and combined authorities is an episode from The Local Authority Podcast by LGC.

This episode is 47:53 long.

This episode was published on Apr 15, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Local Authority Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.