Agenda item

The Chief Operating Officer to present a report which provides details of the steps required following the announcement of the ‘minded to’ Devolution Deal for York and North Yorkshire, and asks Executive to recommend that Council commence the consultation process to approve the Deal and carry out the relevant next steps.

Resolved:            That the recommendations in the report be approved.

Recommended:  That Council:

                             (i)      Approve the minded to Devolution deal.

(ii)      Approve The Governance Review as identified in Appendix 1 to the report.

(iii)     Approve publication of the Scheme at Appendix 2 for consultation and delegate to the Monitoring Officer any changes and actions needed to ensure that a full consultation exercise is conducted for the area.

(iv)    Delegate authority to the S151 Officer, in consultation with the Executive Members for Finance and Major Projects, to approve with North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC), work up the details of, and implement the financial arrangements, including a risk share mechanism and funding source.

(v)     Grant approval to cashflow, with NYCC, initial implementation costs of £600k (ahead of the funding being available to be drawn down) and agree to receivea further report once the full implementation costs are known.

(vi)    Approve the creation of a Joint Devolution Committee with NYCC and delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Leader, to approve the final terms of reference as agreed with NYCC.

(vii)    Approve the addition of £2m to the Capital Programme for affordable low carbon homes with any expenditure subject to the agreement of the S151 Officer upon business case approval and confirmation of grant conditions.

Reason:     On the basis of the content of the report, and the beneficial Devolution Deal.

The Chief Operating Officer presented a report which detailed the steps required following the announcement of the ‘minded to’ Devolution Deal for York and North Yorkshire, and asked Executive to approve the proposal and recommend that Council commence the consultation process to approve the Deal and carry out the relevant next steps.

On 1 August 2022 the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had announced that the Government was minded to enter into a Devolution Deal with York and North Yorkshire under which the region would benefit from £540 million of new Government investment to spend on local priorities to produce growth, together with a range of devolved powers. This was dependent upon the City of York Council (CYC) and North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) establishing a Combined Authority for the area with an elected Mayor. A Governance Review undertaken by officers (Appendix 1 to the report) had concluded that a Mayoral Combined Authority was likely to improve the exercise of statutory functions in the area and a draft Scheme (Appendix 2) had therefore been prepared. 

Subject to Member approval of the Review and the Scheme, the next step was to carry out an 8-week public consultation on the Scheme, as detailed in the report, before considering whether to create a Mayoral Combined Authority.  To ensure proper governance and transparency, it was recommended that a Joint Committee be created at this stage between NYCC and CYC.

Members discussed the governance of the new Combined Authority and balanced views on their concerns with the creation of a Mayoralty against the access to funding which came from the devolution deal. Officers confirmed that measures had been negotiated which would require collaboration between the Metro Mayor and local authorities, such as the requirement for the Combined Authority Budget, which would need to be unanimously

supported by local authorities.

Resolved: That the recommendations in the report be approved.

Recommended:  That Council:

                             (i)      Approve the minded to Devolution deal.

(ii)      Approve The Governance Review as identified in Appendix 1 to the report.

(iii)     Approve publication of the Scheme at Appendix 2 for consultation and delegate to the Monitoring Officer any changes and actions needed to ensure that a full consultation exercise is conducted for the area.

(iv)    Delegate authority to the S151 Officer, in consultation with the Executive Members for Finance and Major Projects, to approve with North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC), work up the details of, and implement the financial arrangements, including a risk share mechanism and funding source.

(v)     Grant approval to cashflow, with NYCC, initial implementation costs of £600k (ahead of the funding being available to be drawn down) and agree to receive a further report once the full implementation costs are known.

(vi)    Approve the creation of a Joint Devolution Committee with NYCC and delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Leader, to approve the final terms of reference as agreed with NYCC.

(vii)    Approve the addition of £2m to the Capital Programme for affordable low carbon homes with any expenditure subject to the agreement of the S151 Officer upon business case approval and confirmation of grant conditions.

Reason:     On the basis of the content of the report, and the beneficial Devolution Deal.