Metro mayors to control rail services under England devolution plans

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White paper paves way for London-style contactless-payment travel networks and unitary authorities to replace two-tier county and district councils

Mayors of big cities and regions across England will be able to take control of rail services for the first time so they can tailor them to their areas’ economic needs, under devolution plans to be announced by ministers on Monday.

A white paper to be unveiled by the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, will pave the way for metro mayors to take a role in governing, managing, planning and developing the rail network.

This will allow them to develop fully integrated contactless travel along the lines of Transport for London.

At the same time the white paper is expected to say that all areas covered by two-tier county and district councils will be asked to submit plans for mergers. This is likely to lead to the scrapping of all districts and the creation of unitary authorities with about 500,000 people in each.

The transport secretary Heidi Alexander told the Observer that a key aim was to promote growth alongside service improvement by devolving power over transport issues to the local level.

“These new powers mark a historic shift in how our railways are run – giving local leaders the ability to shape services that truly meet the needs of their communities and drive local growth,” she said.

“By placing decision making closer to the people using these services, passengers’ experience of public transport will be improved, including through better timetabling and easier journeys door-to-door.”

Government sources said the English devolution white paper would allow people to use contactless payment systems to board trains, then buses and trams with just one tap in and out, rather than having to pay for each as separate journeys. The changes could mean more e-bike docking stations closer to rail links, as a further move toward full integration.

Under the proposals, mayors will work in partnership with Great British Railways, the new company set up to run a renationalised network, which will have a duty to help mayors develop systems to meet local economic, educational and other needs.

Mayors in established combined authorities will be able to request the right to decide how often trains run, where they go and what improvements on connectivity and accessibility are needed.

Ministers say that effective models, such as those in London and the Liverpool city region, show how well integrated, locally run services can work, bringing better reliability and increased use of public transport.

The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said it was a big step forward which he had been pushing for. “In simple terms it lets us do what London has done. We will complete the re-regulation of buses on 5 January. We will go to a London payment system over buses and trams in March and then we want to integrate eight rail lines to begin with but more in the long run into the Bee network, which is our London-style system.

“The rail network has been disastrous in recent times. This will bring real economic benefit by allowing us to shape services to need, and serve the area’s economic interests.”

The white paper is expected to sweep away more than 150 councils in England, creating 20 to 30 new unitary authorities.

This will replace the current system in which county councils run social care, handle large planning applications, education, transport and libraries, while district councils are responsible for rubbish collection, housing and local planning. The plans are bound to provoke a row with those involved with authorities now facing the axe.

Some councils are facing a spending crisis because of rising demand for social care of children and older people, with some cutting provision of toilets, playgrounds and garden waste collections.

Hannah Dalton, leader of Epsom & Ewell borough council in Surrey, said: “The danger is that new unitary councils would have little option but to divert spending on regeneration, high streets and preventing illness to fund social care,” she said.

Losing thousands of councillors will change the political map and risks reducing diversity, Dalton added.

“If there are larger areas, then the people who can do the role will be people who are financially settled and can do it as a full-time job,” she said. “That means retired men. Local politics will be less diverse.”