Why we want a Mayoral Combined Authority
Devolution offers the opportunity to leverage the area’s sectoral strengths in the transition to a more productive, low carbon economy, whilst improving the living standards and economic opportunities for our most deprived communities.
Both Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils, together with Government, and other key stakeholders have been working together to achieve a devolution deal which will seek to establish a Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) – this gives access to the greatest levels of both powers and funding through devolution.
A Combined Authority is a single institution that works across a functional economic area with powers and funding to address strategic issues including transport, skills, economic development and regeneration. Hull and East Yorkshire is one of the country’s most self-contained areas, which means that the whole area will benefit from the features a combined authority brings, such as increased investment and integrated policy. An MCA is a new body, it does not replace either Hull or East Riding Councils.
A Hull and East Yorkshire MCA will build on a long and successful history of partnership working between the two authorities such as the £25.7m Regional Growth Fund Green Port Growth Programme; strategic management and delivery of the Local Growth Fund; the 2014-20 EU Structural Funds programmes for Humber and York/North Yorkshire and East Riding, as well as the innovative Living with Water partnership, and aligns to the Economic Growth and Workforce Wellbeing Strategy (2021) the combined area’s first dedicated economic strategy.
In recent years, working with major private and third-sector partners, we have successfully collaborated to deliver. These initiatives have pioneered new delivery approaches and policy development across a range of economic development interventions, but with a particular focus on our combined strengths in sustainable energy generation, flood risk and environmental management, and water-sensitive regeneration.
The establishment of the Combined Authority will also be accompanied by strong joint working arrangement with both our Humber and wider Yorkshire partners, as detailed later in Section 8. This reflects our strong economic linkages and dependencies with our neighbouring local authority areas and will ensure we remain an outward-looking area that works collaboratively with regional partners to support sustainable and inclusive growth.
There are several examples of where places have successfully implemented devolution deals and elected Mayors, such as Manchester and the West Midlands. Both of these places have gone on to negotiate deeper devolution with more funding, greater powers and autonomy. The deal on offer to Hull and East Yorkshire has been negotiated as the first step on the ‘devolution ladder’ with the expectation that there will be further, enhanced deals in the future.
The case for change
Establishing an Mayoral Combined Authority requires a legislative process.
Before an Mayoral Combined Authority can be established, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities needs to be satisfied that to do so is likely to improve the -
- economic
- social
- environmental
well-being of some or all of the people who live or work in the area. Also, the Secretary of State considers that to do so is appropriate having regard to the need to -
- secure effective and convenient local government
- reflect the identities and interests of local communities
In addition, the Secretary of State also has to be satisfied that establishing an Mayoral Combined Authority will achieve the purposes in the proposal and that there is no further consultation required.
In developing the deal, the Councils must have considered four core tests or principles which underpin the devolution framework as outlined in the Levelling Up White Paper 2022 -
- Effective leadership
- A directly elected Mayor, covering the whole area, will unlock significant long-term investment and secure key powers to support economic growth. This offers greater freedom to decide how best to meet local needs and create new opportunities for people and business, in order to ensure that the benefits of devolution are fully realised across the region
- Sensible geography
- Hull and East Yorkshire has a very high level of self-containment, particularly in terms of the labour market, the property market and voluntary and community sector infrastructure. Our travel-to-work area has one of the highest levels of commuter self-containment in the country, with 87.9% of residents in employment both living and working in the area
- Flexibility
- The Deal recognises the unique needs and ambitions of the Area in its proposed governance, funding, and policies. Its approach is based on the expectation that more will follow, that this is the first ‘rung on the ladder’ of devolution
- Appropriate accountability
- Both Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Council have a long history of joint working and have committed to developing a Constitution and Assurance Framework that will confirm, clarify and formalise the intention of institutions and local leaders to continue to be transparent and accountable, work closely with local businesses, seek the best value for taxpayers’ money and maintain strong ethical standards. This will build on the work both councils have done as lead authorities/accountable bodies for various public/private sector partnerships
Both Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council are seeking to strengthen and formalise joint working and collaboration, enabling us to work more closely together with Government and the neighbouring Mayoral Combined Authorities to enhance their collective impact on economic growth. However, in creating an Mayoral Combined Authority, there is a risk that a new layer of local governance could bring increased bureaucracy and cost, duplication or overlap of services, leading to inefficiency, as well as the possibility for political discord. It is essential, above all else, that a Mayoral Combined Authority for Hull and East Yorkshire is efficient and effective.
Formal, democratic arrangements would create a clear and effective platform for accelerating economic growth in Hull and East Yorkshire with strategic decision making.
In the current financial climate, with significant pressures on local government budgets, which are set to continue in the medium term, it is imperative to have governance arrangements in place that are efficient and reduce both duplication and the timescales for delivery of investment in economic growth. However, it would not be correct to assume that the new funding available through the Deal could offset any shortfall in local government financial settlements.
An alternative arrangement will represent clear and co-ordinated governance for Hull and East Yorkshire and will form the foundation for an ambitious devolution deal for the area.
There are limitations with the current arrangements, these include -
- There is no single formally constituted body with responsibility for strategic economic growth across the area
- The current arrangements rely heavily on informal partnership working, mutual interest and collaboration
- Decision making is fragmented and time consuming because of the need for both councils to align separately
- The current governance arrangements are not sufficient to meet the ambitions of Hull and East Yorkshire in terms of longer-term funding for economic growth
- Long term strategic planning is fragmented which could be improved if considered across a single economic area
- There is no vehicle to provide a single, coherent response to major, national infrastructure investments such as strategic road and rail projects
- There are no formal arrangements for binding decisions on strategic land use planning to be taken collectively, impacting on investor confidence
- There is no single, strategic commissioning body to drive and deliver locally led solutions to improve the delivery of skills training and development across Hull and East Yorkshire