Presentation by Ian Curryer, Chief Executive, Nottingham City Council
Minutes:
Ian Curryer, Chief Executive of Nottingham City Council, delivered the presentation, informing the Committee on the proposed changes to legislation governing combined authorities, highlighting the following information:
(a) a combined authority would effectively form a new legal structure and would require ratification by a statutory instrument. Following its formation, a combined authority can undertake economic development and transport functions for its area and levy its member authorities;
(b) the Government is advocating the formation of combined authorities in line with Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas. Combined authorities have been established in the following areas: Sheffield City, the north east (including Newcastle and Gateshead), Greater Manchester, Liverpool City and West Yorkshire.
(c) a recent letter from Ed Miliband to all local government Leaders outlined Labour’s objective for a radical devolution of economic power to unlock potential growth across the country. Proposals include the strengthening the role of LEPs with a single LEP coterminous with city and county regions and putting in place stronger political governance to drive economic leadership through combined authorities or economic prosperity boards;
(d) in order to create a combined authority agreement amongst all local authorities would be needed. The process of formation includes a governance review to establish the following: the exercise of statutory functions relating to transport in the area, the effectiveness and efficiency of transport in the area, the exercise of statutory functions relating to economic development and regeneration in the area, and economic conditions in the area;
(e) the Government published its consultation on changes to the legislation governing the creation of combined authorities on 30 April which will remain open until 24 June. The proposed changes would allow for county councils to be members for only part of their geography and for district councils to join a combined authority separately. Proposals allow for non-contiguous membership;
(f) in relation to the concurrency powers under the proposed changes, it is plausible for a wide range of powers to sit with the combined authority but for a detailed remit to remain at a district or local level. These arrangements would ordinarily form part of a governance review and be submitted to Government for final approval.
Following questions and comments from the Committee, the following information was provided:
(g) there is a preference for a LEP-wide combined authority, however Derby have already commissioned a governance review for a combined authority;
(h) at this stage it is not clear what additional powers would be devolved to Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire should they form a combined authority. In light of the general election next year, it would be useful to have early discussions with both the Government and Opposition Government to clarify what additional powers would be devolved;
(i) further research would need to identify any successful practices of the five established combined authorities, what additional powers would be devolved to a theoretical N2 combined authority and the potential benefits to this formation.
RESOLVED to authorise Nottingham City Council to research the rationale behind establishing a combined authority, with a particular focus on what additional powers would be devolved to an N2 combined authority and report back to the Committee on 20 June 2014.