Liverpool City Region agree on Metro Mayor's powers

A meeting of the Combined Authority agreed on the powers to be handed to the Metro Mayor, who will be elected in May

Powers to be given to Liverpool City Region's Metro Mayor next year have been agreed by the area's six councils.

The formal process to hand over a range of devolved powers to the city region was negotiated at a meeting of the Combined Authority.

It signed an order which changes the authority's governance arrangements, and lays out the powers to be given to the Metro Mayor after May's election.

The order will now be submitted to Parliament for final approval.

The Combined Authority is made up of the five Merseyside councils - St Helens, Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral - plus Halton in Cheshire and the local enterprise partnership.

From May, it will be chaired by an elected Metro Mayor.

The deal will give Liverpool City Region leaders wide-ranging powers and additional funding

Analysis: Claire Hamilton, Merseyside political reporter, BBC News

In order to change the governance arrangements from the current Combined Authority to a Mayoral Combined Authority, enabling the powers to be devolved to the Combined Authority, a Parliamentary Order needs to be passed.

All councils in the Combined Authority need to agree to this, and Liverpool's cabinet have become the last to approve it.

The order will be submitted to parliament next week and debated by both houses before being implemented in time for the Metro Mayor election.

The Combined Authority will be responsible for transport, planning and economic growth.

However, the Green Party has expressed concerns that the scope could expand to include other functions currently carried out by local councils, and has called the move a "power grab".

Mayor Joe Anderson, chair of the Combined Authority, said those claims were "inaccurate and misleading" and "no powers would be moved to the City Region from councils, without those councils agreeing first."

The Department for Communities and Local Government said this could only happen with government consent and consultation with local communities.