'It's the best job I’ve ever had’ says West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker on first 100 days at the helm

Richard Parker, West Midlands Mayor, said he is enjoying the responsibility of overseeing areas such as housing, transport and employment and training opportunities across the region.

At the local elections in May he unseated the popular Tory incumbent Andy Street. Since winning he has also faced unexpected challenges which have turned his diary upside down.

But Mr Parker said he was ‘very pleased’ with how things were going and was looking forward to developing his plans over the coming weeks.

Born in Bristol, he left school aged 16, before returning to education which resulted in a degree in economics.

He joined accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and rose to become a partner before leaving to set up his own management company RP Strategy.

“I phoned my wife on lunchtime on day three or four and said it’s the best job I’ve ever had and I really mean that. It’s quite different to what I did before.

“I used to provide advice to my clients and they would make the headlines and I’m now leading an organisation that I’m the public profile of it and that’s really different.

“I spent a couple of weeks getting into the role and understanding this place and then there was a general election so the role has become very real since July 5.

“I’ve had great support around me. The thing for me is I’m doing this because of the importance of getting this region back to growth and addressing some of the issues we have around skills and youth unemployment.

“I’m still learning, as well all do. It’s a very big region but I’ve taken the time to build a really good rapport with the key organisations – businesses, colleges, universities and our councils and I think we’re in a really good place to make some really good progress over the autumn.”

“I have been setting my alarm for 5am and typically finish about 10pm. It’s certainly a busy job.What is different is simply the breadth - one has to deal with during the course of a day.

“Whatever you plan, there is a very significant reactive element like the events over the last two weeks with the violence on our streets is a reflection of that.”

The ‘far right riots’ were one of the unexpected challenges he faced, along with the worrying number of deaths as a result of reckless driving on the region’s roads.

What has Richard Parker done for the West Midlands since becoming Mayor?

Mr Parker has instigated an independent review to look at every transport project and will assess issues such as governance and decision making that led to the delays and funding issues.

But he has also enjoyed successes such as setting the wheels in motion for bringing the bus network under public control under a franchise model, the approval of Investment Zones aimed at attracting £5.5 billion funding and creating 30,000 jobs and starting a Youth Plan to tackle the region’s higher than national average youth unemployment rate.

Mr Parker said he has also made many changes to how the organisation works such as disbanding boards which had little or no effect on policy making, saving 9,000 hours of meeting time.

Portfolio responsibilities have also been ditched for the seven council leaders who make up the board and replaced with on meeting a month which the mayor chairs.

Collaboration with councils, businesses, schools and colleges has also been top of his agenda, as has working closely with the new Government – not least on lifting restrictions on how £150 million housing funding can be spent to benefit the region.

He added: “It’s been a really pleasing start. The purdah period interrupted some of the things we wanted to do particularly publicly in terms of the profile.

“But we used the time really effectively to build the foundations to create the platforms to deliver the manifesto.

“I’m really pleased with the progress we’ve made. I’m really keen that this organisation has a reputation for efficiency, collaboration and delivery so we’ve been working on that.”