There are hopes securing a devolution deal to bring more powers and money into Nottinghamshire will bring the region into the 'Premier League'. A bid has now been submitted to the Government for a combined authority covering Nottingham, Derby and the two counties with an elected mayor.
Ben Bradley, Mansfield's Conservative MP and leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, told Nottinghamshire Live a joint bid for an East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority was submitted on Friday, March 25. He says leaders have submitted a bid for a 'Level 3' deal, which would give the region 23 new powers, handed down from central Government.
However according to Government documents to secure such a deal a combined authority would be required, meaning only the city and county councils would be involved in major decision-making. Leaders, including those of the borough and district councils, had therefore expressed concern over their redundancy.
Read more: What Government announced in its Levelling-Up white paper
Councillor Bradley has before emphasised there would be no local government reorganisation, however, and the districts and boroughs would remain. It is hoped Nottingham(shire) and Derby(shire) will act as "pathfinders" and secure a deal which is tailored for the area as a result.
Leaders met with Levelling-Up minister Neil O'Brien recently. Speaking of the meeting and the submitted bid, councillor Bradley said: "It confirms that we are going for what Government refers to as a Level 3 deal, a mayoral combined authority. The Government has been pretty clear it only intends to give the maximum powers and funding to places who do the maximum accountability in the eyes of the department and that is a directly elected leader or mayor.
"So we've always been fairly clear across the region, certainly between leaders, about what it is we are after and that's to play in the Premier League, to be equals with the likes of the West Midlands and Greater Manchester in terms of what funds we can draw down from Whitehall. We want to be able to invest significant amounts of money into our local economy and infrastructure in the way that Birmingham or Teesside have been able to do.
"We also want more local decision making over things like public transport, for example. I'm optimistic. The feedback from the meeting with Neil O'Brien was that Government wants to support the most ambitious of these schemes. They are eight in the running but we think that ours, based on the geography and scale of what we are asking for, is arguably the most ambitious of those eight and we are hopeful it will go forward early."
The success of three or four bids will be announced shortly in the first round and more, if successful, will be unveiled in the Autumn as part of a second round. DerbyshireLive reports all four council leaders had a "very positive" meeting with Neil O’Brien who said that the Government was very encouraged by the level of ambition of the councils and indicated that he expected a good deal for the region could be agreed.
The councils involved, including district and borough councils in these areas, would retain all the powers they already have. The deal would not create a new tier of Government but would bring a level of Government which already exists from Westminster to the East Midlands.
All four councils will work with district and borough councils, businesses, and other stakeholders to look at the details of the plan, which needs to be approved by the Government. Further discussions with the Government are expected to take place soon.
To illustrate the the deal the four councils have bid for, below the different 'levels' of powers and structure needed are explained:
Level 1 - Local authorities working together through a joint committee. This is Nottingham and Nottinghamshire's current structure (i.e. Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and the seven borough and district councils). This level would be granted three out of a possible 23 devolved powers.
Level 2 - A single, combined authority without a mayor. This level would be given 11 powers.
Level 3 - A single, combined authority with a mayor. This would be granted all 23 powers. This is the one that has been bid for. Leaders however want to retain the borough and district councils, meaning the Government will now have to accept, or shoot-down, arguments as to why this would work.
