Devolution for Hull and East Yorkshire has taken another step forward after East Riding Council’s cabinet recommended that the deal on the table should go forward to public consultation in the new year.
Meeting at County Hall in Beverley today (December 12), the cabinet recommended that full council should:
- Approve the consultation on the Hull and East Yorkshire Devolution Deal to create a Hull and East Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, and publication of the associated proposal.
- Approve that, subject to the outcome of the consultation being broadly supportive of the proposals, the leader of the council will exercise the executive decision on whether to submit the proposal to the Secretary of State for consideration.
Councillors will make a final decision on these points at a special full council meeting on December 21.
Cllr Anne Handley, leader of East Riding Council, said: “This is another important step in our devolution journey. I look forward to discussing this at full council next week, where I sincerely hope we will get agreement to take this deal forward to consultation.
“If that happens, it will then be over to the people to have their say, and I urge everyone to get involved, as this affects every single person across the East Riding and Hull.”
The proposed Hull and East Yorkshire devolution deal was announced and signed last month and was discussed by the council’s overview and scrutiny management committee last Thursday.
The deal will go through a similar process at Hull City Council on the following dates:
- Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee (OSMC): Friday, December 15
- Cabinet: Monday, December 18
- Full council: Thursday, December 21
If both full councils approve, the public consultation is expected to begin on Tuesday, January 2.
The deal, if implemented, would lead to the creation of a Hull and East Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA), led by a directly elected mayor.
The MCA would have powers to invest in areas such as transport, skills and housing, as well an additional £400m of devolved funding over the next 30 years to invest in local priorities.
Key aspects of the proposed deal include:
- £400 million (£13.34 million a year) investment funding over 30 years, to drive growth and deliver local priorities.
- Up to £15 million in 2024/25 to support transport, flood and coastal erosion programmes across the area, including a coastal regeneration programme in the East Riding.
- Up to £5 million in 2024/25 to support local economic growth priorities, including any expansion of Siemens Gamesa at Alexandra Dock in Hull.
- Up to £4.6 million for the building of new homes on brownfield land in 2024-25.
- UK Shared Prosperity Fund planning and delivery from 2025-26.
- New powers to shape local skills provision, including devolution of the core adult education budget.
- New powers to drive regeneration and build more affordable homes.
- New powers to improve and integrate the regional transport network, with a multi-million-pound integrated transport budget.
- A commitment to rail electrification between Hull and Sheffield, and Hull and Leeds, integrating East Yorkshire into the Northern Powerhouse Rail network.
A combined authority for East Yorkshire does not mean the two councils would merge, only that they would collaborate on certain issues that affect everyone in the region.
The councils and the delivery of day-to-day responsibilities would remain separate, and local services would not be affected.
