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”.
Read More: £4.2bn devolution deal 'not radical enough', North East mayoral hopeful Kim McGuinness claims
An eight-week consultation on the North East deal closed in late March and officials are now analysing the responses before sending back a report to Michael Gove that will determine whether there is enough support from the public and from the seven constituent councils for the historic agreement to proceed. Coun Miller added: “I am fairly certain that will all go fine.”
It is hoped that the devolution deal, which Mr Gove came to Gateshead to sign in January, will create 24,000 extra jobs and leverage £5bn of extra private sector investment. It includes a £48m-per-year investment fund, which has been hailed as the most generous in England, and the ability to bring the bus network back under public control.
The agreement also features a £60m-a-year adult education and skills budget, an initial £900m package of transport investment, and could soon be enhanced by negotiations to take on the same ‘trailblazer’ devolved powers being given to Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
Should the agreement go ahead as planned, it will reunite authorities on either side of the Tyne, after a dramatic break-up. Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside and County Durham pulled out of a previous devolution deal offered by the Government in 2016, prompting Newcastle, Northumberland, and North Tyneside to break away and form their own North of Tyne Combined Authority.
Once approved by local councils and then Parliament, the devolution deal would establish a new North East Mayoral Combined Authority, while the existing North of Tyne and North East combined authorities would cease to operate. The combined authority will not replace any of the local councils, which will retain their existing functions and responsibilities.
However, the devolution deal has been criticised by some, including Lib Dem and independent councillors in Northumberland, as “undemocratic" and “dishonest”.
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