Devolution deal ‘on back burner’
THE leader of Lancashire County Council says he believes that the Government has put a potential devolution deal for the area “on the back burner”.
Geoff Driver made the comments after Boris Johnson was asked during a visit to Lancashire about the prospect of the county reaching the kind of agreement that has long since brought extra powers and cash to the likes of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region.
For the first time last summer, all 15 council leaders in the county – including Rossendale – concurrently agreed “in principle” to the creation of a combined authority and elected mayor – a pre-requisite of any devolution deal.
They also pledged to explore “possible models” to simplify Lancashire’s complex two-tier council structure.
The Government has indicated that it would demand such a change so that any future combined authority would have a more manageable number of constituent members.
When the government announced which areas it would enter into discussions with as part of the next round of devolution talks, Lancashire was not on the list – prompting County Coun Driver to warn that the region risked being left with “crumbs from the rich man’s table”.
The County Hall leader – who is stepping down the at the local elections in May – said: “From what I can gather, devolution for Lancashire is on the back burner, because the Government has ‘no appetite for getting involved in local disagreements’. It has been made very clear that they will not impose a solution from Westminster and will look to seek ‘general agreement’ – even if not unanimous – for a local solution.”