Culture

Culture is a new area of competence for strategic authorities, added as an amendment to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026.

There are no immediate powers or statutory duties that come with the power of competence for culture, but benefits include:

It enables a commissioner for culture to be appointed by the mayor in 2028
The mayor will be able to use their convening powers to bring organisations to work together to collaborate on, promote and strengthen the sector, creating conditions for culture to flourish in the region
It highlights culture as an area the Combined Authority can involve itself in, as with the other areas of competence
There is the potential for the Mayor to consider an overnight visitor levy and how any such levy could be used to support the visitor economy and culture sector

For the Hampshire and Solent region, culture is an important sector with a strong record.

Combined, the cultural, creative and visitor economies are worth around £8 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the regional economy, supporting over 150,000 jobs
More than 30% of the creative talent in the region operates on a freelance, contract or micro-business basis
There are around 15,500 – 16,500 listed buildings across the region. That doesn’t include other designated heritage assets such as scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, which take the total heritage assets for the region to over 17,000
Southampton was a finalist for the UK City of Culture 2025
Portsmouth City Council is long listed for City of Culture 2029