York & North Yorkshire Devolution Deal
The City of York and North Yorkshire councils have negotiated a proposed devolution deal between central government and local authorities for York and North Yorkshire.
Local councillors, residents and businesses will now review the deal in detail over the summer and councillors will then collectively decide whether to proceed to consultation on the deal. A public consultation in October to December will give you a chance to have your say.
York and North Yorkshire would establish a combined authority and directly elect a mayor to provide strategic leadership across the region, seek the best value for taxpayer’s money, be directly accountable to the region’s electorate and to receive new and devolved powers transport, housing and skills.
The Mayor would work with partner councils and regional stakeholders to invest £18M per year allocation of funding over 30 years (35% capital, 65% revenue), invested by York and North Yorkshire to drive growth to unlock growth and innovation and help tackle local challenges, such as affordable housing and low wages. It could also be used to support the ambitious target to be England’s first carbon negative region.
The new powers would also be used to improve and better integrate transport, shape local skills provision to meet the needs of the local economy, drive the areas regeneration, achieve green economic growth, develop the region’s cultural potential, improve data connectivity along with other changes to benefit the local population.
FSB North Yorkshire Development Manager, Carolyn Frank, said, “If you’re a small rural business working in the Upper Dales or on the Coast in North Yorkshire, you can feel very removed from decisions made in Westminster. Devolution brings an opportunity for local decision making formed by a greater understanding of the issues facing our rural and Coastal business communities. Through devolution, local policy makers can bring tailored solutions including infrastructure improvements, business support and local skills strategies, as well as budget efficiencies from a longer-term funding package, resulting overall in more effective public services and increased investment into the area.
York & North Yorkshire has so much to offer, especially to net zero goals and national food security, and from our brilliant entrepreneurs and innovative independent businesses and our high performing Universities, and has waited a long time for a fairer deal through devolution. At FSB we are excited to help unlock the potential of York & North Yorkshire in partnership with colleagues across the public and private sector, and to make sure the delivery of devolution lives up to the high expectations of the deal from our membership. Sole traders and microbusinesses will expect to see a step change, and will be seeking strong leadership from the public sector to capitalise on the deal.”
Lee Harris-Hamer, owner of White Horse Cleaning Services, and FSB volunteer area leader for North Yorkshire said “I am excited to have founded and grown my business here in Thirsk, and now trading nationally, with great support from Hambleton District Council, and I am very keen to see devolution for our area build on the best practice in business support I’ve seen first hand and extend that to help other ambitious businesses. We’ve also had help from the LEP Skills support for the workforce programme to build from being a sole trader to having 46 members of staff all in training programmes, and I think skills support is the key to unlocking our local economy so that young people find their future here. Devolution brings many opportunities for York & North Yorkshire to build on our existing capabilities, and with new investment into the area from central government, there is no limit to how much we can contribute to UK PLC from this region. As a local small business I want to be part of that, and I am thrilled to see where devolution can take York & North Yorkshire, creating jobs, new businesses, stronger communities and more effective public services.
You can find out more and sign up for their newsletter by visiting: www.ynydevolution.com