Weca mayoral elections: Helen Godwin

On Thursday 1 May voters across the West of England will decide the next regional mayor.

You can find more information about the election and the candidates here.

The West of England Combined Authority (Weca) is a local authority encompassing the council areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) and South Gloucestershire. The Authority is led by the West of England Mayor.

Born in Bristol, Ms Godwin grew up in Stapleton in the north of the city and was the first in her family to go to university.

"I lived here until I went to university and went off to Liverpool for a few years, then London, then came back to Bristol about 13 years ago with two of my now three children," she said.

Ms Godwin was previously a councillor for the Bristol ward of Southmead, as well as a cabinet member under former Bristol Labour Mayor Marvin Rees.

She stood down in 2021 in order to take a job back in the private sector - with huge accounting firm PwC.

After a series of high-profile rows between the outgoing Weca mayor and local council leaders, Ms Godwin said: "I've already started the conversations with people from all sorts of parties to understand what maybe isn't working now [and] what are the things people see as quick wins in terms of how we start to work together.

"Building those relationships will be the absolute priority."

In June 2016, North Somerset Council decided not to join the three other councils on Weca.

But in September 2024, the council submitted an expression of interest in formally joining.

Currently, it sits in on Weca meetings without any voting powers because it cannot officially join the authority mid-term.

"I would love to see North Somerset join the combined authority," said Ms Godwin. "I think that makes sense.

"That is a matter, absolutely, for them."

Franchising buses means taking services which are currently run by private companies and bringing them under public control. It is a process that has already begun in Greater Manchester, but is time-consuming and costly.

Ms Godwin told BBC Politics West that franchising is not her "first priority".

"My first priority is getting buses working better so people can get to work on time."

In 2023 proposals were put forward for a bus lane to run towards Bath from the Broadmead roundabout in Keynsham to Pixash Lane in Saltford on the A4.

In February, outgoing metro mayor Dan Norris announced the scheme would be suspended due to local opposition.

Ms Godwin said: "It was something, for me, that was very straightforward.

"If we're telling people things are happening and 80% say 'it's not going to work for me', we have to be able to do it [re-think proposals]."

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