performed by the Greater Manchester County Council (such as public transport and waste management control). Section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985 provided AGMA and the Greater Manchester County Records Office any functions its constituent councils delegated to it. Functions and constitution AGMA has been operating as a joint committee of the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities since its creation in 1986. Under its constitution (passed in 2008), the Executive Board of AGMA coordinates economic development, housing, planning, and together with the relevant statutory bodies, transport policies for Greater Manchester with a supporting structure of seven commissions. However, although the Executive Board has the power to establish the strategic commission, it is not a body corporate, and it has no formal functions in its own right. Those it has to depend on delegations from, or agreements by, its constituent local authorities. The AGMA Executive meets monthly to deal with strategic issues that impact Greater Manchester. AGMA also provides some joint services across Greater Manchester via AGMA Units and is developing policies and strategic initiatives, including its Greater Manchester Strategy. As at January 2010, six commissions are in operation, being: Commission for the New Economy; Environment; Improvement & Efficiency; Health; Planning & Housing; and Public Protection. City region and combined authority Following a bid from AGMA highlighting the potential benefits in combatting the financial crisis of 2007–2010, it was announced in the 2009 United Kingdom Budget that Greater Manchester and the Leeds City Region would be awarded Statutory City Region Pilot status, allowing (if they desired) for their constituent district councils to pool resources and become statutory Combined Authorities with powers comparable to the Greater London Authority. The aim of the pilot is to evaluate the contributions to economic growth and sustainable development by Combined Authorities. The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 enabled the creation of a Combined Authority for Greater Manchester with devolved powers on public transport, skills, housing, regeneration, waste management, carbon neutrality and planning permission, pending approval from the ten councils. Such strategic matters would be decided on via a majority rule voting system involving ten members appointed from among the councillors of the ten metropolitan boroughs (one representing each borough of Greater Manchester with each council also nominating one substitute) without the input of the UK's central government. Committees will be formed from a pool of 33 councillors allocated by council population (roughly