‘Super council’ proposals
County council leaders meet to discuss plans
THE leaders of four county councils, including Leicestershire, have met to discuss plans for a new combined authority.
Leaders of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, all of which are Conservative-controlled, have met to discuss the plans, with more details expected in the summer.
Combined authorities effectively act as a ‘super council’, working across county borders.
Other parts of the country, including the West Midlands and Manchester, already have a combined authority, and received additional funding in last autumn’s budget.
It is not clear whether the new authority could co-exist with the current, two-layered system of county councils and district councils. However, the West Midlands and Manchester have maintained their two-tier systems.
A combined authority enables a group of two or more councils to collaborate and take collective decisions across council boundaries. Member councils can take advantage of powers and resources devolved to them from national government and, as a result of their joint working, be more ambitious in their plans.
Coun Nick Rushton, leader of Leicestershire County Council, said: “We regularly meet with Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and we’ve been discussing recently what the East Midlands needs to do to get its act together.
“Birmingham and the West Midlands have their combined authority and Mayor Andy Street, and we need something to counterbalance that.
“In some areas we get just 10 per cent of the funding that they get.
“There’s no written proposal as yet, but we think it would be an attractive idea based on the ‘six Cs’ model – the three counties and cities (Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire county and city councils).
“It’s ambitious and it’s speculative, but it could be attractive to Sajid Javid (Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government).
“We think that this could succeed where other combined authority models have failed in the past.
“There’s still a lot of conversations to have about it, but we want to see this happen.
“Residents come first and foremost, and this is something we’re looking at to allow us to make savings and put more money into frontline services.
“We need to make sure the interests of the East Midlands are represented in the same way that the West Midlands is.”
He also said a combined authority could help ease significant financial pressures being faced by councils.
Leicester’s elected city mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, said he was aware talks had taken place and the move was being discussed.
He added: “I think this is one of those ideas that get discussed at some length, but I have some doubts it will come to anything.
“Combined authorities were a big issue a couple of years ago but the momentum behind it seems to have faded.”
The new regional power would likely have an elected mayor, as is the case in the West Midlands and Manchester.
Creating the new regional authority could be complicated by the fact that all four county councils are Conservative led, while the three cities are currently Labour-run councils.
Any deal would likely require co-operation from counties and cities.
Nottingham City Council leader Coun Jon Collins said: “We are aware that tiers of authorities in the East Midlands have been looking at configurations for a combined authority for some time now but there is nothing to suggest that achieving this is anywhere near close.”
Coun Barry Lewis, leader of Derbyshire County Council, added: “We are exploring the possibility of a wider devolution deal extending across the East Midlands, working with all upper tier authorities, including the cities.
“This, we hope, will provide balance across the Midlands Engine area, to match the weight and clout of the West Midlands Combined Authority and its elected mayor.
“We hope this will allow us to pull critical levers with government to devolve a range of powers and investment opportunities to the East Midlands; an area identified as being weak in attracting government support.
“It’s still early days, but we hope to have a working outline to test government support soon.”
It is not the first attempt at fostering greater political co-operation in the East Midlands.
In 2015, Nottingham, Derby and seven districts in the two counties appeared on the brink of a devolution deal, but the move stalled over the requirement to adopt an elected mayor.
Then, in November last year, Nottinghamshire County Council leader Kay Cutts hit out at what she called a ‘secret’ and ‘underhand’ plan by Derby and Nottingham city councils to enhance co-operation between the two.
No-one at Nottinghamshire County Council was available to comment on the current talks.