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Agenda item

Leaders' Announcements

Announcements of the Leader of the Council.

Minutes:

Councillor Garry Purdy, Leader of the Council, made the following statement:

 

“Members, you may recall that I informed you in past meetings that Vision Derbyshire was formed about two years ago when All Derbyshire Local Authority Leaders and Chief Execs met at the invitation of Cllr Barry Lewis, Leader of Derbyshire County Council at J28 Hotel off the M1 in order to discuss the then proposals on Devolution by Government. Present at that meeting were representatives of Derby City Council.

 

A unanimous vote was made by all Derbyshire Local Authority Leaders and Chief Execs that:

 

1.    Vision Derbyshire should be formed

2.    That we did not want a Mayor or Mayoral Combined Authority.

3.    That regular meetings should take place with a view to engaging Consultants to help determine what kind of Authority Derbyshire wished to become.

 

Derby City representatives stated that whilst they acknowledged and respected the formation of Vision Derbyshire, they did not wish to join. They were informed at the meeting that the door would be left open for them to join at any time.

 

Price Waterhouse Cooper were subsequently engaged and a series of Workshops took place between Leaders and Chief Execs at Lea Hurst, Holloway which resulted in a number of ideas for future collaboration and Workstreams were raised in order to deal with the business of the Two-Tier Authorities.

 

It is important to note that this work resulted in Derbyshire being at the Head of the Nine County Deals announced a few months ago by Government. Invitations to All Councillors were sent out from time to time to enable an update on progress. It is also important to note that the work of Vision Derbyshire preceded the White Paper on Devolution. The delivery of the White Paper was frequently delayed and was finally produced in February 2022.

 

The content of the White Paper revealed amongst many other issues – 3 x Funding Streams:

 

Level 1 – Status quo – As we are now with limited and diminishing funding from Government and being very much reliant on income.

Level 2 – A Derbyshire Combined Authority – which would result in slightly more devolved powers and funding

Level 3 – A Mayoral Combined Authority which ticked every box regarding devolved powers and funding.

 

Following the delivery of the White Paper we were subsequently informed by Cllr Barry Lewis at a virtual Vision Derbyshire meeting that talks has been held between the 4 x Leaders of Derbyshire (Cllr Barry Lewis – Derby City (Cllr Chris Poulter) – Nottingham (Cllr David Mellen) and Nottinghamshire – (Cllr Ben Bradley) with a view to the formation of an East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority.

 

Naturally this led to a lot of disquiet, unease and anger in some cases especially due to the fact contained in the White Paper was No Power of Veto by 2nd Tier Authorities such as Derbyshire Dales.

 

We are though assured through Cllr Barry Lewis, and I have been present at a meeting with Cllr Chris Poulter, Leader of Derby City Council when he gave the same assurance, that all 4 Leaders are desirous that all 2nd Tier Authorities in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire should be included in the Governance arrangements and have a Voice at the table.

 

At a virtual D2 Meeting last week Chaired by Elizabeth Fagan, Cllr David Mellen gave the same commitment and spoke of 4 x seats at the Board Meeting table being enabled for District and Borough Councils in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire. Let us not forget that James McLaughlin is one of the architects of any new Governance arrangements for whatever construct is decided by Government.

 

Nonetheless, assisted by the District Council Network who are lobbying Government very hard re the lack of a Power of Veto and to allow a seat at the table for 2nd Tier Authorities, I have written to our MP Sarah Dines MP and the two Candidates for the Conservative Leadership – Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, copies of which you will have seen, appealing for this wrong to be rectified.

 

Cllr Barry Lewis is currently meeting Leaders of all Eight District & Borough Councils in order to take stock of their views on the recent development. Paul and I met with Cllr Barry Lewis and Chris Henning Director of Place at DCC – at the Town Hall at 9am on Monday 11 July 2022 when I gave my view on the recent development.

 

That notwithstanding our still strongly held view that a Mayoral system is not right for our areas, that we have to do right by our residents and businesses and have no choice but to accept the fact that a Mayoral system of Governance is the only game in town that will receive extra powers and funding from Government. I also said that I would not wish to see a Mayor with full powers delegated to whoever it might be in the final analysis.

 

Cllr Barry Lewis explained that all 4 Leaders were aiming for a similar Mayoral system to that of the West Midlands under Mayor Andy Street where a strong Governance Board arrangement does not allow for full powers in a single individual.

 

We have to wait now the see what Government Civil Servants and Ministers decide what our fate will be and we are led to understand that we should know our fate by the end of Autumn – September 5th being cited as the decision date. I will continue to fight for a voice at the table not only for our Authority but for all of the other 2nd Tier Authorities involved in this process.

If it is to be decided by Government that an East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority should be formed, then Elections are anticipated to take place in May 2024.”