County may need mayor for chance of £1bn funding
A Leicestershire mayor may have to be elected to improve the county’s chances of winning a billion pounds worth of government funding.
At a full council meeting, leader Nick Rushton set out Leicestershire County Council’s bid for the government’s “County Deal”.
This would be a pot of money awarded by Westminster as part of the “levelling up” agenda which would then be distributed across the districts. The current bid is for £25 million each year for 30 years.
There is also a bid for a further £50 million each year for five years to be used to support local plans throughout the county.
However, the council’s leader advised that, if it wanted to be in the first wave of funding, it would need to elect a single figurehead responsible for overseeing the funding.
He said: “If we want to be in the first wave, if we want to tick every box, if we want to do the best for Leicestershire, I was advised we should offer up a directly elected mayor for Leicestershire.”
He added there could be discussions about what exactly the mayoral role would entail, but ultimately it was a necessary, if unpopular, step.
“I imagine it would be up for negotiation as to how he runs his mayoral service. It’s all up for negotiation. Do you want to call him a mayor or do you want to call him a governor?
“You can call him what you like but it’s a directly elected person that we need to tick all the boxes, to get it through the door and that is why I was willing to swallow it.”
Coun Rushton said this funding would allow Leicestershire “greater freedom and opportunities to deliver its own local priorities, such as being able to fund infrastructure to support development, drive economic growth, skills and prosperity, and taking effective action on climate change and carbon reduction”.
This follows the council’s revelation that it will likely need to borrow around £166 million to meet its expenses between now and 2025.
If the council decides to go ahead with a mayoral election, Coun Rushton suggested each of the main parties would pick a candidate to put forward for the position.
The funding scheme has received a mixed response from the opposition parties.
Michael Mullaney, Lib Dem councillor for the De Montford division, said: “Our Lib Dem group position has always been Leicestershire is unfairly treated and gets a raw deal from the government, not only in terms of being the worst funded county council in the country, but also in terms of the police, fire, education and other services being funded below the national average.
“Therefore, any scheme that brings additional funding into the county is something that we would welcome.
“In terms of reservations to the plans, as a group we don’t support elected mayors so that is something we would have a reservation about.
“Also I notice there is an option of a business rate supplement of 2 per cent being charged to businesses as a potential charge which again is a concern at this time.
“As we emerge from Covid, it’s a difficult time for businesses.”
Labour councillor for the Loughborough North West division, Max Hunt, said: “Labour group don’t think much of this deal.
“It’s not devolution, it’s simply taking taxpayers’ money, hopefully a bit more of the taxpayers’ money than we’ve had in the past, and putting it in the hands of one person with the added cost of running that office. It removes some decisionmaking from the districts, particularly at local plan level.
“But I do understand that the administration has to put in a bid, has to take the opportunity of getting more money for Leicestershire if we can.”
Coun Rushton added the plans were not intended as an attempt to create a unitary authority or take power from the districts.
He said: “Let me be clear, this is not local government reorganisation by the back door, it isn’t a bid for a unitary authority and it is certainly not a ‘county takeover’ of existing local government services.”
No decision on progressing a mayor scheme has been taken. The council is expecting to find out whether it will be in the first wave of funding in the next couple of months. There are no proposals yet on how any money will be divided, should applications be successful.