A North East council leader is “fairly certain” that a £4.2bn devolution will go ahead as planned – as another region has dropped plans to elect a mayor.
Voters across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham could go to the polls to elect a new regional mayor next May, under long-debated proposals for big changes to the North East’s political landscape that will bring new funding and decision-making powers. But another area of England has now decided against a deal requiring a directly elected mayor, with leaders in Cornwall announcing on Tuesday that they will not go ahead after 69% of people opposed the idea in a public consultation.
Sunderland Council leader Graeme Miller gave an update on the North East’s proposals to a meeting of the existing and non-mayoral North East Combined Authority (NECA) on Tuesday. The Labour councillor said that public engagement with the deal, via an online survey and in-person consultation events held around the region, had been “very encouraging”.
