Councils submit devolution deals ahead of Treasury deadline

Councils are submitting their proposed devolution deals to the Chancellor of the Exchequer ahead of today’s preliminary deadline.

The Local Government Association called for at least £60bn of central government spending to be devolved over the next five years. It claimed that taking decisions closer to where people live could achieve up to £20.6bn in potential public sector savings as well as creating at least £80bn in economic growth and 700,000 new jobs.

The LGA said devolution proposals included:

• Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire calling for a 10-year transport settlement and fully devolved housing investment.
• Gloucestershire asking for control of all health care budgets, fully integrated health and social care and a single vision for health and wellbeing for the county.
• Liverpool city region requesting retention of 100% of business rates income and the ability to franchise all local bus services.
• Leicester and Leicestershire urging devolution of funding and ability to commission skills programmes locally.
• Hampshire, South Hampshire, Isle of Wight calling for further investment in world-class marine and aerospace clusters and university research centres.

Cllr Gary Porter, LGA Chairman, said: “Local people know best how to spend money and run services in their local area. Taking decisions closer to where people live is key to rebalancing the economy and improving the services which bind our communities together and protect our most vulnerable.

“Councils and their partners have worked hard to get devolution deals in and produce innovative proposals to use public spending more effectively to meet local needs. Ministers have invited councils to continue coming forward with ambitious and innovative proposals and we hope they will maintain recent momentum over the course of the Parliament.”

Cllr Porter urged the Government, in the negotiations that will follow submission of proposed deals, to “match the ambitions shown by cities and county areas and ensure the benefits of devolution are extended to residents and businesses in all parts of the country”.

He said: “It is time to spend smarter on infrastructure to get maximum value from every public pound. This starts with a much more effective and efficient approach to investing in local growth and regeneration. With devolved decision making and funding, local areas can also better gear the skills system to tackle unemployment and underemployment and close skills gaps.

“Devolution is not an end in itself. If our public services are to survive the next five years, councils also need fairer funding alongside the freedom to pay for them.”