New East Yorkshire Mayor Holds First Board Meeting

Hull and East Yorkshire has entered a new era as the new Combined Authority’s Executive Board has approved a number of funding streams from central government.

The Executive Board sat for the first time this week since Reform UK’s Luke Campbell was elected as Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire earlier this month.

The board itself had its first meeting in March. The meeting then was largely a procedural affair and saw the approval of the authority’s constitution and budget, as well as appointing individuals to various positions.

The board met again on Wednesday (May 28) in Hessle, this time with the newly-elected Mr Campbell present, to approve funding initiatives for the likes of transport, adult skills, and renewables.

The meeting was attended by the Mayor, the leaders of both Hull City Council, Cllr Mike Ross, and East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Cllr Anne Handley, as well as East Riding councillor Leo Hammond who, as the Deputy Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), sat on the board in the place of the absent Jonathan Evison, the PCC.

Mr Campbell, who said it was “a pleasure” to chair his first Executive Board, provided an update on his first few weeks on office. He spoke of his visit to the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF), a summit held in Leeds. He said:

“UKREiiF was fantastic. It gave me the opportunity to speak to investors, pension funds and property developers to really bring in some investment and some interest into Hull and East Yorkshire.”

The Mayor also praised Cllr Ross and Cllr Handley in his speech, describing them as “two very good, strong leaders” that are “ready to fight for this region,” adding: “Including myself, you’ve got the third one.”

The funding streams the board discussed included:

Adult Skills Fund

The Combined Authority (CA) is set to become the administrator of the Adult Skills Fund which is worth around £16 million, from September 2026. In order for this to take place, the CA has until May 30 to submit documents to the Department of Education that prove the CA’s ‘readiness’ to administrate the fund.

The board accepted Cllr Hammond’s suggestion to include working within prisons in the region to aid the rehabilitation of prisoners into the wording of the documents.

Hull and East Yorkshire Investment Plan Principles

The board approved a report that sets out the Investment Principles that will underpin decision making across the region. The five principles are as follows:

• Strategic – be intricately linked and contribute towards at least one of the four strategic themes for actions set out in the Hull and East Yorkshire Economic Framework and demonstrate a clear evidence-based need.
• Value for money – maximise cumulative impact by bringing together projects into an integrated programme where suitable.
• Targeted – focused on strengthening and accelerating growth in priority sectors, creating opportunities and unlocking further funding and inward investment.
• Scale – deliver additionality and step-change benefits that is going to have a regional impact on people and business across the geography and go beyond intervention happening at a local authority level.
• Collaborative – where possible, bring together a wide range of partners across Hull and East Yorkshire to work towards a shared goal. This collaboration is also set to include work with the south bank of the Humber.

Transport funding

The CA has now become the local transport authority for the region. This means that Department for Transport grants for the region are now routed via the Combined Authority. The board approved £10,788,423 to be transferred to Hull City Council and £8,743,148 to go to East Riding of Yorkshire Council from government grants for the 2025/26 year.

Great British Energy’s Mayoral Renewables Fund

Great British Energy, the Government’s renewable energy company, has made a £10 million pot of funding available to Combined Authorities to bid for. The board has approved for the CA to enter into a funding agreement with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and bid for up to £1,622,457 for the delivery of public sector renewable energy projects.