Teesside Mayor Praises North Yorkshire Devolution Plans

The mayor of the Tees Valley has welcomed the progress of moves to bring devolved government to North Yorkshire and York.

Ben Houchen says the neighbouring combined authorities would help counter-balance a “very large concentration of power in the North-West”.

Mr Houchen added that while the economies of North Yorkshire and York contrasted to the one of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, having neighbouring a mayoral combined authority would see the creation of a stronger voice for the east coast.

He was speaking ahead of a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council on Wednesday to consider whether to forward the findings of a public consultation on a proposed devolution deal to government.

Although the results showed most respondents to the consultation were in favour of the proposed deal, large numbers raised concerns over an increase in bureaucracy, a lack of democratic accountability, while the study itself has been criticised as a “marketing exercise”.

A meeting of the county council’s executive heard the proposed “gain share” – or funding given by government for the combined authority to spend how it chooses – would be similar to that in the Tees Valley and at £22 a head, and compared “very favourably” with the £21-a-head given to Sheffield, £16-a-head agreed for West Yorkshire and £11-a-head for Greater Manchester.

The meeting was told a relatively lightly staffed combined authority, more similar to Ben Houchen’s offices in Stockton than those of the more extensive West Yorkshire combined authority, were being envisaged.

Councillor George Jabbour told how a visit to Mr Houchen’s base with councillors from across the county and York been “eye-opening” in terms of funding opportunities, creative initiatives and strategic thinking available with a mayoral combined authority.

However, unlike in the Tees Valley, the proposed mayoral combined authority for North Yorkshire and York will also include the role of the police, fire and crime commissioner, providing further opportunities for “joint thinking in dealing with local issues and concerns”.

After the meeting, the county council’s leader, Councillor Carl Les, said he wanted bureaucracy in the proposed authority could be restricted, particularly as there are only two councils involved where as in West Yorkshire there were six and Greater Manchester ten.

He said:

“In talking to the Tees Valley team I know the size of the combined authority staffing is directly a function of the work they take on. If our mayor comes in and starts to take on more and more initiatives then it stands to reason they are going to have to have more staff to deliver those initiatives. The government will want to see the money is being well spent, so you have to have people in place to manage that process.

“The principle we have always adhered to in North Yorkshire is that we tend to do things on a smaller scale than other authorities do.”

Mr Houchen said in offering advice to North Yorkshire’s leadership he had stressed the biggest challenge would be deciding priorities for the region, its unique selling points and how the combined authority delivered the outcomes for people across the region.

He said as a result, North Yorkshire and York would need “a very strong mayor”.

Mr Houchen said:

“The economy of Scarborough and Whitby is very different to the economy of central York and Ripon and everywhere in between, so it is not going to be easy.

“Since Teesside came into existence in the early 1800s there have been a lot of people who would commute to Teesside but live in North Yorkshire, and that’s still the case today.

“There are always going to be those synergies and overlaps and I am actually looking forward to having a colleague nearby who we can work more closely with to try and make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

“Having more colleagues that I can work closely with on then east coast to try and balance what is a very large concentration of power in the North-West, particularly in Manchester and Liverpool will be a great help not just to the people across the patch that I represent, but to people right along the east coast.”

While Mr Houchen had highlighted the need for a strong mayor, Councillor Les has pledged scrutiny of any mayoral combined authority would be “robust” and styled on the “good, if not best practise” scrutiny process in North Yorkshire.

However, opposition politicians in the Tees Valley have raised concerns that North Yorkshire and York need to ensure a mayoral combined authority is held to account from the outset.

Leader of the Green Party group on Darlington council, Councillor Matthew Snedker, said:

“Ben Houchen does not like being scrutinised. He attends very few scrutiny meetings and that means that the office of the mayoral combined authority is shrouded in this area of mystery and suspicion, not least with the Teesport development and the giving away of very valuable land to developers who are linked to the mayor himself.

“In principle devolution and combined authorities can deliver great benefits for people, however the scrutiny of the mayor must be important and they must be held to account. Any local authorities considering going down this route must make sure there are procedures in place and the cabinet is in a position to hold that mayor to account and ensure the benefits of devolution are realised and problems avoided.”