Greater Lincolnshire Devolution: North East Lincolnshire Council votes in favour

North East Lincolnshire has approved a devolution deal for Greater Lincolnshire, despite multiple concerns raised by opposition members.

Councillors voted on the deal, which would see a mayor elected for a new authority covering Lincolnshire, North and North East Lincolnshire authorities. This new setup will control funding for housing, job creation, and public transport, including buses.

The new devolution deal for Greater Lincolnshire was announced in last week’s Autumn Statement.

Under the new mayoral combined authority, Lincolnshire would receive £24 million of government funding annually for 30 years.

Council Leader Philip Jackson (Conservative) told members:

“This devolution bill is a strategic opportunity to improve the economic, social, and environmental well-being of Greater Lincolnshire, its residents, and visitors. It will boost learning and ensure we don’t fall behind in other areas.”

He was supported by several members of his party, who were keen to draw powers and get more funding from the government.

Councillor Oliver Freeston (Conservative) said:

“I particularly welcome the local control over the adult education budget. I think that this would give us far more opportunities to provide niche opportunities and placements and training for people in this area. That’s specifically tied to the opportunities and job growth and creation that will come with this deal.”

However, Liberal Democrat and Labour opposition members were “unconvinced” about the opportunities presented by the deal, particularly the fact it would be a Level Three deal with a directly-elected mayor. Level Two deals and lower do not require such a commitment.

Most were keen to support the idea of devolution, but expressed a number of concerns, including the potential benefits of the funding and the amount of power lower-tier councils would have. Several felt the authority’s opposition was being rushed into making a decision.

Nicola Aisthorpe (Liberal Democrat) said introducing another layer of “costly bureaucracy” would not be the most effective way to allocate resources.

“I firmly believe that decisions about the future should be made by the people of Lincolnshire, not in distant corridors of power in London.

“However, I am unclear why these funds being offered to us could not simply be distributed amongst existing councils and, most importantly, amongst local people who understand the needs of our area best,” she said.

“The structure of this deal will currently lead to an entirely Conservative-run council with apparently no opposition, combined with weak powers of recall, which limits the diversity of voices that our community deserves and raises serious concerns about effective governance.”

Labour’s Kathryn Wheatley said that the benefit of having decision-making in the area taken by people who lived there was a good thing and the concept of devolution has been proved in other areas.

However, she added: “We are yet to be convinced that this particular deal is either dynamic, well thought out or well funded. As such, we have some serious reservations.

“We are not convinced by the rationale behind the need for a mayor, and the document does not make clear what the distinct level of responsibilities will actually be.

“At the moment, it just seems like a little more bureaucracy that we may not even need, want, or can afford.”

There were fears that the funding amounts given would not increase in line with, for instance, inflation, over the next 30 years. There were calls for it to be index-linked.

Councillors also raised concerns about how in-depth a public consultation would be, particularly whether it would reach some of the more difficult areas of the community, including disabled and non-English speaking communities.

Labour Cllr Malcolm Moorland said: “There’s more work to do on the consultation to give the public the proper opportunity and information, clearly and succinctly, to form their opinions, express their opinions, and give us the information we need to judge whether they think it’s a good idea or not.”

Councillor Lee Wilson (Labour) called for the devolution deal to be put to a referendum. “A referendum would give the people the choice whether they want this deal or not. They can look at the facts. They can look at the deal,” he said.

“If people want it, they will vote for it.”

He too believed the deal was rushed and that the leadership could have “held our nerve”.

There were also concerns that the funding would not replace what has been lost over recent years due to reductions in government grants.

Cllr Steve Holland (Independent) referred to a Margaret Thatcher speech about the government giving with one hand but taking away with another.

He said the money is “a fraction of the hundreds of millions of pounds we have cumulatively lost, which has reduced the spending power of this council by 40%.

“We are told that devolution will give us more local choice in how money is spent and yet the reality is that the money that we did have control over was diminished, and we didn’t have a better choice than to spend a limited revenue budget,” he said.

“Will devolution fix the broken funding model? I don’t think so.”

Defending the deal, Conservative councillors highlighted that many of the opposition members voting against this deal on Thursday voted in favour of the 2016 deal, which was ultimately rejected by Lincolnshire County Council and South Kesteven District Council.

Councillor Jackson denied the deal was “rushed” and said some details had been “misinterpreted”. He called the Labour group “hypocritical” for their stance.

“I’m very disappointed we’re in a position where the two principal opposition groups are going to vote against the deal,” he told the chamber.

“There are all sorts of misinterpretations and very selective parts of the deal being looked at in order to object to it.”

He warned that if the deal was rejected, “we’re never going to get a third bite of the cherry”.

The recommendations were approved by 24 votes for and 12 against.

Public consultations on the plans will be launched following the votes.

Lincolnshire County Council has also voted and approved the deal today, while North Lincolnshire will have their debate on Monday.