One of the council leaders behind the £1.14 billion East Midlands devolution deal says he is not "100% in favour" of the new mayoral role for the region that it will create. David Mellen, the Labour leader of Nottingham City Council, was one of four who signed the agreement in the summer which will hand more money and powers to Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire councils.
The agreement, which is currently out for public consultation until January 9, will create a new East Midlands authority headed up by a new Mayor for the East Midlands, who will be directly elected by the public. Ben Bradley, the Conservative leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, was another one of those who signed the deal and he has not ruled himself out of running to be Mayor when the first election is due to take place in 2024.
But when asked whether he would be interested in the role, David Mellen told Nottinghamshire Live: "No. It's the way that things are working at the moment. I'm not 100% in favour of the Mayor but certainly the way the Government offered this, doing this at what is called Level 3 which involves the Mayor involves significantly more money than any other level so being responsible for the people of Nottingham, I couldn't turn that down."
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Other Nottinghamshire politicians have previously expressed their concerns about the new East Midlands Mayor role too. Kate Foale, who leads Labour at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "We certainly can't say no to this because we really, really need the money.
"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 Ben Bradley has said that the Mayor role was needed for the funding to be given to the new East Midlands authority, which under the current proposal will see £38 million going to it every year for the next 30 years. Councillor Bradley said: "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."
Speaking about the devolution deal more broadly, which will see the new East Midlands authority being able to take decisions on matters including local transport and housing, David Mellen has previously told councillors that he does not think it is perfect.
But he has also said that "we should not make the perfect the enemy of the good" and speaking to Nottinghamshire Live about whether the deal could be improved in years to come, he added: "It has been elsewhere, you see places like Greater Manchester where they've now got powers over public health, other authorities are dealing with holistic approaches to homelessness.
"I think there are opportunities once we get in the stream of this for talking to the Government about what other powers will be devolved. We have seen the Labour leader Keir Starmer saying that devolution is something very much in his sights as well, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon and therefore we need to make the most of it."
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