'The more we do, the more change people see, the more people realise having a mayor is really valuable'

IT'S 2pm on a Monday afternoon when I meet East Midlands mayor Claire Ward in a coffee shop. Rain is hammering on the windows outside.

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY

It's been 15 months since the former Labour MP took up her post, in charge of the then-newly-formed East Midlands Combined County Authority. When it was announced that, following in the footsteps of the West Midlands, a combined authority would be introduced for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, just 42% of 5,000 people surveyed supported the idea.

Many who opposed it suggested the introduction of a mayoral position would afford too much power to one person. Plenty more just didn’t see the need. Claire does, though.

“As mayor, I've already been able to bring in a significant amount of money,” she explains in staunch defence of the position. “That's not just the £2bn that I've made the case to the government to get in the transport settlement, that we wouldn't have got otherwise.

“It’s also the £120m we've had additionally for the region just because we've a mayor and a combined authority in the last year.

“That's the difference a mayor makes.”

Mayor Claire, as her team have coined her, is straight-talking and focused. Her work has only just begun, in the grand scheme of things, but cogs are already turning.