West of England mayor Tim Bowles has announced his retirement and confirmed he will not stand for reelection in May.

The Conservative metro mayor will bow out at the end of his term after nearly 20 years in local politics.

It comes amid a blazing row between the leaders of the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) and his Bristol counterpart Marvin Rees.

A process will now begin to pick the Tories' candidate, while both Labour and Lib Dems have chosen former MPs Dan Norris and Stephen Williams respectively.

Mr Bowles, who was voted in as the first regional mayor in 2017 after previously serving as a South Gloucestershire councillor, said it had been an "honour and a privilege".

He said: "I am proud of the track record of bringing our communities together so everyone can benefit from the skilled jobs, quality of life and new opportunities our area is home to.

"The combined authority has brought hundreds of millions of pounds to the region and seen major improvements that benefit every single person.

"We're getting the region moving with a proper transport system that cuts congestion and improves air quality.

"Creating the MetroWest rail network, extending metrobus and developing our regional mass transit scheme are all the sort of long-term investments and strategic decisions that the West of England has been crying out for but simply couldn't agree to make in the past.

"Now they are happening because we have a combined authority and a regional mayor."

He said Weca was creating safe cycling and walking routes, trialling e-scooters and supporting technologies and jobs of the future.

"My flagship Future Bright scheme has already helped more than 700 families improve their job and career prospects, and that's supported by our funding for adult education and by putting careers and enterprise advisors in every school in the region – something I am particularly proud of," he said.

"And I've made sure we've accelerated the support our businesses and job creators have needed during these unprecedented times through the West of England Growth Hub and our Invest Bristol and Bath team, with an ambitious recovery plan to come back strongly from the pandemic and build back better, bringing the decent, well-paid jobs of the future to our region.

"But most of all I am pleased of the impact on the families right across the West of England that have benefited from the 4,000 new jobs and 13,000 new qualifications that have come as a direct result of extra funding that we have in the region, simply because we have a combined authority."

He said he now wanted to "pursue some other interests and do those things which have had to take a back seat for so many years".

Metro deputy mayor and South Gloucestershire Council leader Cllr Toby Savage said: "The impact that Tim has had as the inaugural West of England mayor, building the combined authority from scratch and bringing together the local authorities, both across geographical and political borders, has set our region on a truly positive path.

"His leadership has helped to provide funding for many initiatives across South Gloucestershire."

Former Bristol mayor George Ferguson posted on Twitter: "Good luck to Tim – there is life after politics!"

But tweeting of Mr Bowles' announcement, Cotswold District Council Lib Dem leader Cllr Joe Harris wrote: "Who?"

Earlier this month Conservatives Mr Bowles and Cllr Savage, independent North Somerset Council leader Cllr Don Davies and B&NES Council Lib Dem leader Cllr Dine Romero issued a scathing joint statement after Labour's Mr Rees blocked North Somerset's Weca entry.

They accused him of "putting party politics before doing the right thing for the region".

In response, Mr Rees said he was disappointed an "ongoing internal debate" had been made public and said he supported North Somerset's inclusion "only when there is a clear financial offer that benefits Bristol and the West of England economy".