More news on the proposed Southern Powerhouse. This in from the council, in their own words. Ed
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight devolution partnership has all but completed the work required to unlock a devolution deal for the formal consideration and agreement of the partners’ main decision-making bodies.
At the request of the government, the 19 partners, including the 15 local councils, two Local Enterprise Partnerships and two National Park Authorities from the area, have provided additional details about their proposals on a number of topics including low-cost housing delivery, funding for vital infrastructure such as roads and schools and how the decisions that would be passed down from government would be taken at a local level.
Metro mayor
During a recent visit, the minister with responsibility for devolution, James Wharton MP, asked the partnership to agree that the devolved powers should be given to a new elected ‘metro mayor’ for the area.
The partners have considered this issue fully and agreed that, while they can see the benefits of a ‘metro mayor’ for big cities such as London or Manchester, they do not see it as the right model for a large, diverse and extensively rural area such as Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Ready to deliver deal
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight partners are ready to deliver a devolution deal, but only when they are convinced that it will benefit people in the area by bringing genuine devolution of power and funds from Whitehall down to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
They look forward to the government’s response and agreement on a devolution package that can be presented to local councillors, residents and businesses.
Bacon: “Nothing to lose from continuing to negotiate”
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, leader of the Isle of Wight Council, welcomed the decision of the partnership group to continue the negotiations with the government for a devolution deal but on the basis that there would not be a mayor for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Combined Authority. He said:
“Realistically, this may slow down the negotiations with the government around the deal, but this may be no bad thing. In light of the local government finance settlement and the massive cuts in government funding to local authorities across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, we need some time to work through the implications of this and understand how any deal would impact the Island. Any proposal must benefit the Island overall to merit consideration.
“There is nothing to lose from continuing to negotiate, but we need to be very clear if there is anything to gain from the final proposals before we even consider agreeing to a deal.”
The partnership has completed a substantial amount of work around many of the details of the proposed deal as described in the original prospectus.
There is to be an update on the position put before the Full Council in March.
Image: steveboneham under CC BY 2.0
