Sheffield City Region will elect its first metro mayor in May. He or she will need a vision for the city-region and clear strategic, deliverable policies to meet it. The challenge and workload will be considerable, with powers and expectations ranging from delivering policy, to establishing the institutions and capacity for effective city-region governance.

This briefing sets out three policy priorities to help the new metro mayor hit the ground running from the start of their term:

• Introduce a clean air charge to tackle pollution and to fund better public transport across the city region
• Develop a spatial plan to boost the city region’s commercial centres, and to make the most of the business opportunities they offer
• Take action to address the skills deficits across all ranges in the city region