One of the leaders behind the East Midlands devolution deal says people won't have to pay more council tax to fund the new authority that it will create. Nottinghamshire County Council leader Ben Bradley was one of four leaders from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire who signed the £1.14 billion agreement in August.
It will give money and powers currently held by the Government to a new East Midlands authority, headed up by a new mayor for the region. This new authority and mayor will be able to make decisions on a range of local issues including housing, transport and the environment.
Some councillors had expressed concern that the East Midlands Combined County Authority would be asking Nottinghamshire councils to raise more money from their taxpayers under an arrangement known as a precept. But at a meeting of Nottinghamshire County Council on Friday (November 4), where the devolution deal was discussed, Mr Bradley, who is also the Conservative MP for Mansfield, said: "Members in this chamber have been wondering about whether this will have a direct cost to local residents in terms of precepts.
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"We have agreed formally that we're not going to do that. We've had that conversation with partners across districts and boroughs and upper tier authorities around the deal.
"We're all of the view that we're not going to do that. No mayor could come in and do that without the consent of those authorities."
The £1.14 billion agreement was signed by Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council. A consultation with the public has now been launched on it, running until January, and councillors across the four councils have now agreed to move forward with the plan.
Nottingham City Council was the first to back it and Friday's meeting allowed county councillors to have their say. Councillor Kate Foale, the leader of the Labour group at Nottinghamshire County Council, told Nottinghamshire Live before the meeting that she had several concerns about the agreement.
Councillor Foale said: "We certainly can't say no to this because we really, really need the money. This deal won't deliver enough in terms of devolved powers or money, but it's the only offer on the table at the moment.
"We don't need another layer of Government. If they gave us enough funding, we have the structures in place, so why do we need another layer of Government and why do we need a mayor? It just feels like 'do what we say if you want the cash'."
But Mr Bradley told Nottinghamshire Live that he had been frustrated by some of the concerns raised about the devolution deal. He said: "We've talked these things through to death really.
"It's frustrating that you get to these meetings and councillors raise the same question that we've answered 1,000 times. The key principle for me is that the Government is quite clear, unless you have what they deem to be an accountable person and structure to have funding, then you get nothing.
"This 1.14 billion is a start. We'll negotiate into next year a transport pot on top of that, for the West Midlands that was another billion quid. When you look at places like Greater Manchester, that one billion became about five and a half billion.
"I tear my hair out when I hear councillors in the city saying that this is like one McDonald's per household. If you really have that little vision, then I feel sorry for the people of the city."
Other councillors expressed concern during Friday's meeting that setting up a new East Midlands authority did not align with the current priorities of people living through the cost of living crisis. One of those to argue this point was Kane Oliver, who has just won a by-election and now represents Eastwood at the county council as an independent.
Councillor Oliver said in the meeting: "I've knocked on over 6,000 doors during my campaign, not one person mentioned that they wanted a new mayor. They wanted their roads fixing, they wanted their pavements fixing, they wanted the county council to actually do their job."
All Conservative councillors spoke in support of the deal and some from the Labour Party did express hopes about what it could achieve. One of those supportive of the deal was Gedling Borough Council leader John Clarke, who represents Arnold South at the county council.
Councillor Clarke said: "I am totally in support of this. We're in a mess in this country and there's no sign of leadership, we've got a chance here.
"It's not just 1.14 billion. This is about the money that this can lever in."
But Councillor Foale also said she had concerns about how the new East Midlands authority would represent the region's communities. She told Nottinghamshire Live: "These are vast numbers of people with very diverse communities and what is going to be right for North Derbyshire isn't necessarily going to be right for Rushcliffe or Newark.
"I'm not entirely sure that Government ministers know what this kind of deal will mean. They see what happens in Manchester and London but it isn't the same here, and I think they need to understand that better."
But Mr Bradley added: "It's not a new layer, this is about bringing a layer that exists in Whitehall here and merging it into what we do locally. The opportunity to invest 5.5 billion in our skills and infrastructure is huge.
"This is step one and we can go back to the well. We're not imposing additional costs on residents to fund it, it's funded by the central Government from day one."
In terms of the funding of the new East Midlands Combined County Authority (CCA), the devolution deal states: "Funding has been secured as part of the deal from central Government to cover the financial years 2023/4 and 2024/5.
"In addition, the mayor has powers to issue a precept and impose a levy, and the CCA has powers to borrow. In practice it is expected that the running costs of the CCA will be met by either continued central Government support or with funding from the constituent councils.
"The significant programme costs associated with major projects and schemes across the CCA footprint will be funded from other sources, the CCA has powers to borrow whilst the bulk of the funding needed will be provided by Government for the next thirty years. Government has committed to investment of £38 million per year for the next 30 years into the region." The new authority is set to be fully established in 2024, with the first East Midlands mayor to be elected in the May of that year.
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