Mayor's £125,000-a-year adviser should live in West Midlands - MP Ian Austin

Ian Austin has slammed the West Midlands Mayor for showing a 'lack of urgency and dynamism' after it emerged his new £125,000 director of strategy will not be based in the region.

Julia Goldsworthy, director of strategy for Andy Street, won't live in the West Midlands

Following her appointment by Andy Street, former Lib Dem MP Julia Goldsworthy will live in Gloucestershire while she oversees plans to bring more than a billion pounds of investment into the West Midlands.

But Dudley North MP Ian Austin has argued that the holder of such a senior role at the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) should live in the region.

"I thought the combined authority was supposed to be creating jobs in the West Midlands, not the South West," the Labour MP told the Express & Star.

"This is one of the Mayor's most important appointments and you'd expect them to be working flat out, getting round the region meeting businesses and listening to local people, and I don't see how she can do that from a back bedroom a hundred miles away down the M5 in the South West somewhere.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin speaking in Parliament

"What worries is me is that it's typical of the lack of urgency and dynamism Andy Street is showing generally.

"Whether you wanted a Mayor or not, this is a big opportunity to transform the region and I think we need a Mayor showing some energy and some passion about shaking things up to bring new better-paid jobs, more housing, higher skills and quicker transport to the West Midlands."

The WMCA has defended Ms Goldsworthy's living arrangements, stating: "With modern and flexible working practices, it is not a prerequisite that she resides in the West Midlands."

Ms Goldsworthy was MP for the Cornish constituency of Falmouth and Camborne for five years to 2010 when she lost her seat by 66 votes.

She was subsequently appointed as an adviser to the Lib Dem Treasury Minister Danny Alexander.

For the past two years she has been working as a ‘devolution expert’ for the accountants PwC.

She was brought into the fold by Mr Street in July as a member of the new West Midlands Funding Commission, which was set up to look at how money could be raised to fund major projects around the region.

A WMCA spokesman said her new post was a 'high-level strategic role' that will oversee the delivery of the Strategic Economic Plan, an £8 billion investment programme to deliver jobs, and stimulate growth over the next 30 years.