Agenda item

To receive an update from the Chief Executive of Hyndburn Borough Council.

The Chair welcomed the Chief Executive, David Welsby to the meeting to present this item. David thanked the Committee for the invite and said the aim of his verbal report was to provide members with the most up to date information currently available to him.

The UK Government's devolution proposals over the last 10 years have focused on devolving powers and funding to local government in England. This has been motivated by a desire to give local leaders more control over their own affairs and to boost economic growth in the regions.

In 2014, the Government launched a process of negotiating bespoke devolution deals with groups of local authorities. These deals typically include the devolution of powers over transport, skills, housing, and economic development. The first devolution deal was agreed with Greater Manchester in 2015, and since then 10 further deals have been agreed, covering all of England outside of London. 5 additional deals are currently going through due process and are expected to be completed.

In addition to devolution deals, the Government has also introduced a number of other measures to increase local government autonomy. These include the introduction of mayoral combined authorities, which are directly elected bodies with responsibility for a range of local services. The Government has also provided local authorities with more control over their own finances, including the ability to set their own council tax rates.

Discussions have taken place over a number of years in Lancashire. Previously, District Councils were actively involved in discussions. However, under previous rules, all Councils in an area had to come to a consensus and this proved difficult. Discussions between Councils did not present a way forward. Mainly, the requirement for a single Elected Mayor with decision making powers was the stumbling block.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration White Paper, published in February 2022, made a number of significant changes to the rules for devolution in England.

• New devolution mission: The White Paper set a mission for every part of England that wants one to have a devolution deal with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution, and a simplified, long-term funding settlement by 2030.
• More flexibility for local areas: The White Paper introduced a new 'pick n mix' devolution model, which allows local areas to choose the specific powers and funding that they want to devolve. This is in contrast to the previous 'fixed menu' approach, which offered a limited number of pre-set devolution deals.
• New funding for devolution: The White Paper announced £1.75 billion of new funding for devolution over the next three years. This will help local areas to invest in the priorities that matter most to them.

Crucially, the new rules allow for a deal without the requirement for an elected mayor, and applications can only be made by Upper Tier and Unitary Authorities. As a result of this, talks in Lancashire have been resurrected although now with very little District Council involvement.

David described what he does know about progress in Lancashire, who are proposing a Combined Authority with no elected mayor. This is what is known as a level 2 deal, which is expected to be much more modest than a Level 3 deal involving an elected mayor. This will be an agreement to collaborate on transport, skills and employability. No Level 2 deals have yet been made in the country so there is some degree of the unknown.

Hyndburn Borough Council is not party to current negotiations. Negotiations will be requesting money to set up a Combined Authority, which will likely have 2 County Councillors and the Leaders of the 2 Unitary Authorities as the Decision Makers. There may be District Council representation as non-voting members.

There will be a period of consultation, in which Hyndburn Borough Council will be a consultee and will be asked to support the proposals. We will have no power of veto as was under previous arrangements. It is likely that a Combined Authority will be established by late Autumn 2024.

The Chief Executive invited questions from the Committee and responded to the following:

-       Councillors were under the impression that Hyndburn had a say in discussions – David said this was the case until the White Paper was published in February 2022 which changed the rules

-       Definition of a modest deal – David said this was difficult to be specific as there are no examples of level 2 deals being agreed as of yet so there is no history to compare to, however, the Government preferred model is that of an elected mayor and this is incentivised with additional funding

-       The Lancashire 2050 Framework – David said this strategy remains in place independent of any Devolution deal, however, it is dependent on resources in order to deliver the strategy.

The Chief Executive ended by saying he was happy to come back to the Committee at a later date as things progress.

The Chair thanked the Chief Executive for reporting to the Committee.