#WECA: Waste Everyone's Cash Annually.
The £250-Per-Person Government Theatre Nobody Asked For.
Aside from being another tier of government, what is the actual, practical use of WECA that Bristol and surrounding authorities couldn’t do for themselves previously?
Disclaimer: Numbers aren’t my strength. So if any of the math goes sideways from here on out, blame WECA – they’re the ones who made this financial mess so bloody complicated in the first place.
So What the Hell Does WECA Actually DO?
Oh, you mean besides creating 300 jobs for people whose business cards are longer than their job descriptions? Let me tell you what Bristol and the surrounding authorities couldn’t POSSIBLY have done on their own before this magnificent innovation in bureaucracy.
THE MAGIC POWERS:
They got the power to “franchise bus services” – you know, that thing literally every other city council in Britain can already do. Revolutionary! And they can now prepare a “spatial development strategy” – because apparently three separate councils sitting in a room together once a month was just TOO DAMN EFFICIENT.
Oh, and here’s the real kicker: they got “compulsory purchase powers” that the individual councils ALREADY HAD. That’s right – they gave WECA powers that nobody lost! It’s like giving you a spare key to your own house and calling it “devolution.”
THE FINANCIAL GENIUS:
The government threw £900 million at them over 30 years – that’s £30 million a year [WECA]. Sounds impressive until you realise they’re spending £9.6 million just on STAFFING [Wikipedia]. That’s a third of the yearly windfall going to pay people to coordinate what other people used to coordinate perfectly fine at the council level.
And they’ve got 300 employees now, spending £250 per resident [Transition Bath]. Three hundred people! To do what exactly? Convene meetings between the three councils that are literally close enough to bus between?
THE REAL INNOVATION:
Here’s what they REALLY gave you: a mayor with “wide power to make grants to the constituent councils” [Womble Bond Dickinson]. So the government sends money to WECA, WECA employs 300 people, those people have meetings, write reports, create “strategic frameworks,” and then... they give the money to the councils. You know, the ones that could have just got the money directly in the first place.
It’s bureaucratic money laundering! Except instead of cleaning dirty money, they’re dirtying clean money by running it through an extra layer of management consultants and “stakeholder engagement officers.”
THE CHERRY ON TOP:
And just to ensure this circus remains entertaining, in 2021, a significant dispute arose when the mayor attempted to claim veto powers, council leaders boycotted a meeting, and £50 million in spending decisions couldn’t be made [Wikipedia]. Nothing says “efficient regional governance” like a constitutional crisis that freezes tens of millions in funding.
So what’s the practical use? It’s a £130 million a year jobs program for people who specialise in “strategic alignment” and “cross-authority synergies.” The councils could have done all this themselves. But where’s the fun in that? Where’s the BRAND? Because yes, they rebranded themselves in 2024 as the “West of England Mayoral Combined Authority” [Wikipedia] – because if you’re going to add a layer of bureaucracy, make damn sure everyone knows about it.
It’s not government. It’s government theatre. And the tickets cost £250 per person per year.
Explaining the £250 Per Person Per Year.
Let me break down that £250 figure for you:
WECA has a total operating budget of £130 million, with an additional £120 million capital budget in 2024, and 300 employees. This equates to a spend of £250 per resident [Transition Bath].
So Here’s the Maths:
The West of England (Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath & North East Somerset) has roughly 1 million people living in it. WECA’s taking in and spending about £250 million total (£130 million operating + £120 million capital).
Divide £250 million by 1 million people = £250 per person.
But Here’s the Beautiful Part:
That £250 isn’t coming OUT of your pocket directly as a special “WECA tax.” Oh no, that would be too honest. Instead, it’s a delightful cocktail of:
Government grants (remember that £900 million devolution deal? That’s £30 million a year from Westminster) [WECA]
Money the constituent councils chip in (which DOES come from your council tax)
Other government funding they’ve “secured” (which comes from... your national taxes)
Capital funding for projects (more government money)
In 2018-19, WECA’s income was £26.3 million: £13 million from levies on the local authorities, £7 million in grants, and £17.6 million from business rates [Wikipedia]. They spent £25.3 million, with £12.8 million on concessionary fares, £1.7 million on community transport, and shuffled the rest between reserves and the Mayoral Fund [Wikipedia].
So you’re not writing a check to “WECA” for £250. You’re just paying your regular taxes – council tax, income tax, VAT – and then a bunch of people in offices in Redcliffe are dividing up pots of that money, having meetings about dividing it up, writing strategies about how to divide it up, and employing 300 people to oversee the dividing up.
It’s like hiring a wedding planner who costs a third of your wedding budget to coordinate between you, your partner, and the venue you already booked yourselves. Except you can’t fire them, they’ve got a constitutional order backing them up, and they’ll be at EVERY family gathering for the next 30 years.
The Bang For Your Buck.
So what are you ACTUALLY getting for your £250? Let’s see what they’ve been up to:
The Big Wins:
They secured £540 million in transport funding – “the highest amount per head awarded to any city region” [WECA CRSTS Report]. Sounds impressive! That money’s going toward things like fixing the Bath Road, building some bridges, and creating “liveable neighbourhoods” [WECA CRSTS Report].
There’s a £1 million “Pollinator Fund” for bee habitats, £7.1 million for home energy retrofits, grants for businesses to go green, and a £300,000 “Green Futures Project” to get kids interested in green careers [WECA].
They’ve got £3.3 million for SME research and development, a £480,000 fund to help businesses protect their intellectual property, and something called “Skills Connect” to help people navigate the jobs market [WECA].
The Reality Check:
But here’s the thing – in 2022, their own auditors found “five significant weaknesses” in value-for-money arrangements and criticised them for having a “poor state of professional relationships” [Wikipedia]. The auditors literally had to make THREE STATUTORY RECOMMENDATIONS. That’s the government accounting equivalent of a teacher writing “SEE ME AFTER CLASS” on your homework.
And remember those 69 subsidised bus routes? They were planning to cut 40 of them in 2023 [Wikipedia]. So they got all these fancy new powers to manage transport, and their solution was... fewer buses.
Oh, and they spent nearly £9 million on staff salaries in 2021/2022 – which was £892,000 OVER BUDGET [Wikipedia]. They can’t even manage their own payroll, but they’re supposed to strategically manage a billion pounds of regional development?
The Financial Scam: Paying For Your Own Middleman.
But here’s where it gets truly beautiful. The councils pay WECA £13 million a year in “levies” for transport functions [Wikipedia]. WECA then takes that money, adds in the government’s £30 million annual devolution funding, employs 300 people, spends £5-10 million on operational costs [Transition Bath], and then gives money BACK to the councils for projects.
It’s like paying someone £13 to hold your wallet, watching them take a tenner out for “administration fees,” and then thanking them when they hand you back what was already yours. The conservative estimate? £15-25 million a year evaporated on this extra layer of bureaucratic middlemen. The councils are literally funding their own obstacle course.
Your Democratic Say.
Here’s where it gets really fun. Ready for this?
The 2025 mayoral election had a 30% turnout. Helen Godwin won with 51,526 votes out of 682,951 registered voters [WECA]. That means the mayor was elected with just 7.5% of the eligible electorate voting for her [Wikipedia].
Let that sink in. 7.5 per cent.
Your “democratic say” is a vote for a regional mayor that most people don’t bother to vote for, to run an organisation that, in 2021, only 7% of residents could correctly identify who the current mayor even WAS [Wikipedia]. Ten per cent thought the Bristol City Mayor was the WECA mayor. The guy who HELD THE JOB had better name recognition for a position he DIDN’T hold than for the one he DID.
The Structure:
There’s an “Overview & Scrutiny Committee” with 11 members that’s supposed to hold WECA accountable, and the Combined Authority Committee meets four times a year in public, where you can submit written questions in advance [WECA].
Four times a year! They control £250 million annually and meet QUARTERLY. Your local book club probably has more frequent oversight meetings.
And sure, you can submit questions... five days in advance... in writing... to an email address... to ask questions at a meeting that happens four times a year [WECA]. It’s democracy, but with the enthusiasm and accessibility of a DMV appointment. Or, just turn up and spectate, depending on your level of personal masochism.
The Bottom Line.
So what’s your bang for buck? Some transport projects, some green grants, some business support, and a lot of strategic documents about “transformation” written by 300 people in an office in Redcliffe.
And your democratic say? You get to vote once every four years for a position most people have never heard of, with a turnout so low that the winner gets crowned with less than 8% of the population actually choosing them. Then you can watch them argue with the council leaders, overspend on salaries, get statutorily reprimanded by auditors, and meet four times a year while you submit questions via email like it’s 1997.
It’s not a democracy. It’s democracy-themed performance art. And the tickets still cost £250 per person per year.
FAQs About WECA Bristol
What does WECA stand for?
WECA stands for West of England Combined Authority, now branded as the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority since December 2024. Though “Waste Everyone’s Cash Annually” seems more accurate.
How much does WECA cost per Bristol resident?
WECA costs approximately £250 per resident per year across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath & North East Somerset, totalling £250 million annually.
What powers does WECA have that councils don’t?
Very few. WECA can franchise buses (councils can too), create spatial strategies, and make compulsory purchases – all powers the constituent councils already possessed.
How many people voted in the 2025 WECA election?
Only 30% turnout, with the winner receiving just 7.5% of the eligible electorate’s votes.
Why was WECA issued a Best Value Notice?
In March 2024, the government issued WECA a Best Value Notice due to “poor state of professional relationships” between the mayor and council leaders, along with five significant value-for-money weaknesses identified by auditors.
How many bus routes did WECA cut?
WECA planned to withdraw 40 of 69 subsidised bus routes in 2023 – approximately 58% of services.
What happened to Dan Norris?
Former WECA Mayor Dan Norris was arrested in April 2025 on suspicion of serious offences and banned from WECA premises, with his building and IT access revoked.
Would councils be financially better off without WECA?
Councils pay £13 million annually in levies to WECA, which then spends over £9.6 million on staffing and between £5 million and £ 10 million on operations before redistributing the funds. Conservative estimates suggest £15-25 million per year is consumed by the WECA administrative layer – money that could go directly to services if the government funded councils directly.
Sources
West of England Combined Authority - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_England_Combined_AuthorityWomble Bond Dickinson - West of England Combined Authority
https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/uk/insights/articles-and-briefings/west-england-combined-authorityWest of England Combined Authority - Democracy, Funding and Transparency
https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/questions-answers/Transition Bath - “West of England Combined Authority: what does it do?”
https://transitionbath.org/west-of-england-combined-authority-what-does-it-do/West of England Combined Authority - Funding and projects
https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/about-us/democracy-funding-transparency/funding-projects/West of England Mayoral Combined Authority - CRSTS Annual Report 2023-24
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a5e3977617b25e19283828/weca-crsts-annual-report-2023-to-2024.pdf2025 West of England mayoral election - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_West_of_England_mayoral_electionWest of England Combined Authority - Election results
https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/about-us/democracy-funding-transparency/2025-west-of-england-mayoral-election/results/2021 West of England mayoral election - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_West_of_England_mayoral_electionWest of England Combined Authority - Committee details
https://westofengland-ca.moderngov.co.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=143Bristol247 - Dan Norris Banned from WECA Offices
https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/dan-norris-banned-from-weca-offices/Bristol247 - WECA Ordered to Improve by Westminster
https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/weca-ordered-improve-westminster/
Related Articles:
Bristol Transport Crisis: Why Your Bus Routes Keep Getting Cut
Bristol Metro Mayor Election 2025: Full Results and Analysis
Bristol Council Tax 2025: Where Does Your Money Actually Go?
West of England Devolution Deal: 7 Years On, What Changed?
Bristol vs Bath: How WECA Spending Differs Across the Region
Tags: #WECABristol #BristolPolitics #WestOfEngland #MetroMayor #BristolNews #LocalGovernment #Devolution #BristolTransport #WECA2025 #GovernmentWaste #BristolTaxpayers #ValueForMoney #WasteEveryonesCashAnnually
Author Bio: Independent Bristol political commentator specialising in local bullshit, and commenting on it.
This article is based on publicly available information from official government sources, Wikipedia, and Bristol news outlets, including Bristol247 and The Bristol Cable. All financial figures and statistics are sourced and cited.
Abolish WECA, or abolish the member Councils? Do we need a "bonfire of the quangocricies? (Date related pun).