County leaders given two months to plan for streamlined authority
POLITICAL LEADERS in North Yorkshire have been given two months to come up with plans for a local government shake-up which could see its seven district councils disbanded and replaced with a single authority.
Councils in England’s largest county will in the coming weeks draw up their ‘asks’ from a devolution deal that would see new powers and millions of pounds in funding handed over from Westminster.
But they have been told by Minister Simon Clarke that a deal would depend on a streamlined local government arrangement and the election of a metro mayor for the mostly rural county.
This would likely mean North Yorkshire’s seven district councils, which provide services such as planning and waste collection, would be disbanded and form part of one or two larger unitary authorities.
Mr Clarke told them that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a willingness and capacity in government to move the changes on at pace and called on the authorities to submit unitary authority plans by September.
If conversations between the councils and government progress well, a governance review will be required to take place, including a full consultation, which will provide residents, communities and businesses a full opportunity to share their views.
Local leaders support devolution as they believe it will bring more funding and powers to the area. But council sources say there are almost as many views on the best way forward as there are councils and no meeting has yet been scheduled to discuss the issue before September.
The Government wants the new authority structure and elections to take place by April 2022, and while councils will be arriving at individual conclusions, the Government has warned it would impose a solution if no consensus is reached. One council leader is believed to have aired a proposal to create one authority from the Selby, York, Ryedale and Scarborough areas and another with the Richmondshire, Hambleton, Craven and Harrogate areas.
THE COUNTRY may not survive the “currents of division already tearing at it” without a discussion on how to reform democracy, MPs have been warned.
Speaking as the South Yorkshire devolution deal was discussed by a Commons committee, Barnsley Central MP and Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis said the passing of the deal was just the first step.
An order was laid before Parliament last month which formally paved the way for the 30year devolution deal for South Yorkshire, after a historic agreement was struck between the four council leaders of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield to bring key decision-making away from Westminster.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Jarvis said: “The road here has been long and hard. We were the only devolved administration without a full deal in place from the start, and getting one took enormous effort. I have the scars to prove it.”
But he added: “Now we have it, I am absolutely determined that we will seize the opportunity it represents. Devolution will unlock our local knowledge and networks, bring power closer to the people, and help us reshape our economy and society in a way which reflects our values and priorities.”
Mr Jarvis said collaboration across the North but also with Westminster would be key to recover from coronavirus and for South Yorkshire to flourish.
But he said: “In the longer term, we need Government to fulfil its pledges to level up the country. Now, more than ever, it is time for a New Deal for the North.”
He added: “To realise its promise, devolution must be about the meaningful transfer of power and resources from Westminster.
“The UK is – to our detriment – one of the most centralised developed nations on the planet.
We urgently need a deep national conversation on how to restructure and renew our democracy.
“Without it, there is a risk that our country may not long survive the currents of division already tearing at it.”
Local Government Minister Simon Clarke said Mr Jarvis was right to say “devolution is not an end in itself” but was rather “about unlocking the benefits that can flow from it”.
He added that by the time the West Yorkshire deal is finalised, some 63 per cent of the North will be covered by a mayoral combined authority with increased powers and control over funding.
Mike Amesbury, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning and the MP for Weaver Vale in Cheshire, said it was a “landmark moment”, and said: “We are all determined to get the best deal for South Yorkshire.”
But he said while half of his constituency fell into a devolved area, the other half did not, and pushed Mr Clarke to bring other deals down the line quickly.
He added: “We can’t continue to tolerate the inequality of power driving inequality of prosperity across the country.”
He said those powers needed to be genuine and not simply cosmetic.
Mr Clarke said that talks were progressing in North Yorkshire and Hull and the East Riding, as well as outside Yorkshire, with hopes more deals will be signed before May 2022 and May 2023.
He said a White Paper in the autumn would set out the vision for devolving more powers and “would not lack boldness”. He added the South Yorkshire deal was a “significant contribution” to levelling up.
Now, more than ever, it is time for a New Deal for the North.
Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis.