Councils to hold meetings to approve major eight-week East Midlands devolution consultation

Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Derby councils will hold the meetings in the week commencing October 31 as the £1.14 billion deal pushes forward.

Councillors on the authorities will be asked to green-light the eight-week consultation, starting from November 14, to give residents in the region the chance to have their say on the deal.

The deal includes a guaranteed £38m per year for 30 years and several devolved powers to determine projects in the region, focusing on policy areas like education and skills, public transport, housing, healthcare and planning.

The consultation will run until January 9, 2023, before findings are taken back to council leaders to consider the views of as many as 2.2 million people.

Nottinghamshire Council will host an extraordinary full council meeting on Friday, November 4, to approve the consultation, with devolution to be the only item on the agenda.

Coun Ben Bradley, council leader and member for Mansfield North, as well as Mansfield MP, said: “We have to formally approve the approach to the consultation and we’ve agreed with the other councils we will all do it the same week so papers are published together.

If successful, the wider devolution deal will include the creation of a mayoral combined authority, led by a directly-elected mayor, with representatives from the city and county councils on the authority.

Results from the consultation will be reviewed in January and February and the wider devolution document will be updated before the four councils meet in March to submit a ‘final proposal’.

Once the consultation has finished, the devolution deal – officially signed by local leaders and the Government on August 30 – will require Parliament to approve the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.

This will give permission for the new form of devolution deal to be created.

Local leaders will then create a ‘shadow’ combined authority in spring 2023, which will draw up governance and policy arrangements for the new authority in time for it to be formed in full one year later.

An election to appoint a regional mayor is expected to take place in May 2024.