West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has agreed to pursue proposals to partner with other authorities in the South Midlands in a bid to join the Government’s ‘priority programme’ for devolution.
Councillors met last night (Thursday 9 January) and decided the Council should submit an expression of interest to ministers today for a new strategic mayoral authority covering West Northamptonshire, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes and North Northamptonshire.
The proposal covering the six authority areas meets all the requirements, set out by the Government in the Devolution White Paper published last month, for the creation a strategic mayoral authority. This included a population size and a coherent economic footprint.
The proposal also builds on the strong history the councils have working as SEMLEP and from which the new South Midlands Authorities (SMA) group was formed to drive economic growth across the region and to lead the new DWP Supported Employment programme for the South Midlands.
WNC is keen to seize the opportunity to leverage the hundreds of millions of pounds of further investment that is now promised to devolved areas.
Devolution is used to describe the transfer of powers from national to local government and in places with a regionally-elected mayor, this also means the transfer of significant investment to drive new infrastructure, jobs and growth.
WNC will today submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) supporting the creation of a new South Midlands Strategic Authority and has invited the other five councils to join them, following on from recent discussions and interest from the Government in the South Midlands being part of the Devolution Priority Programme.
Any Council is able to submit an EOI and proposal for strategic mayoral authority area, although regions that demonstrate a strong and united approach to devolution are expected to be prioritised by the Government.
In September, the six authorities submitted an initial Expression of Interest to the Government for a combined authority, although at that stage it did not assume a mayor would be put in place.
The Devolution white paper made clear however that it expected all areas to be covered by a mayor and to be part of the Devolution Priority Programme WNC now have to confirm acceptance of this as well as interest on the fast track process.
WNC is already a unitary authority created in 2021, replacing and simplifying the two-tier system of county, district and borough councils to deliver all their services to residents in the West Northants area.
WNC is not currently part of a combined authority or strategic mayoral authority, which are formed by two or more neighbouring councils and typically cover around 1.5 million residents. Northamptonshire’s population of approximately 870,000 is more than half of the number of residents required for a new combined authority according to the Government’s criteria.
Leader of West Northamptonshire Council Cllr Adam Brown said: “It is clear that a strategic mayoral authority covering the six South Midlands councils is not only the one option that meets all the Government’s criteria, but also serves the best interests of all residents across our region.
“The six South Midlands authorities already have a strong history of working together to drive economic growth and building on this will only bring more benefits to all of our communities through a devolution deal that could attract millions of pounds of additional investment.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity that we are ready to seize, regardless of party politics, for our residents and, given the clear advice recently received from Government representatives about its coherence and suitability, we remain committed to pursuing this option.
“We hope our partner councils will join us so that we don’t miss out on this opportunity for all our communities.”
A strategic mayoral authority is led by a regionally-elected mayor, which is entirely different to civic and ceremonial mayors at town councils and has enhanced powers and funding devolved from national government to make collective decisions on issues such as economic growth, transport, housing, skills and employment.
A new strategic mayoral authority including the West Northamptonshire area would not replace the existing unitary council but would provide it with a stronger say and more significant role in regional investment and decision making.
