More than half of Liverpool City Region residents want building affordable housing to be a top priority for the first metro mayor, according to new research.

A year ahead of the first election of a mayor for the whole of the city region, think tank Centre for Cities has carried out a poll amongst adults in the area.

More than 2,500 people across Liverpool and four of the other biggest city regions preparing to introduce a metro mayor in 2017 – including Greater Manchester, Sheffield, the West Midlands and the North East – were surveyed about their perceptions of the elections.

For 53% of the Liverpool City Region residents who took part, taking steps to build more affordable housing was said to be a matter that should feature in the metro mayor’s top three priorities for his or her first 100 days in office.

The poll results also show 49% of Liverpool City Region participants want to see investing in rail and road networks featuring at the top of the new mayor’s to-do list.

Across all of the surveyed city regions, 57% of residents believe the metro-mayor should have greater powers than local council leaders.

Alexandra Jones, chief executive of the Centre for Cities, says: “Critics of the government’s devolution agenda often deride the new metro mayors as a top-down imposition on UK cities – but this polling shows there is clear public support for strong mayors to take the lead in their city region, and to act on behalf of local residents in addressing important issues such as housing and transport.”

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