The Solent Devolution Deal is “dead in the water”.
Those are the words of council leaders, (as reported by BBC South’s political editor, Peter Henley), who had applied to be part of a combined authority with the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton.
£1bn of funding lost
Peter Henley revealed the news on BBC South last night (Wednesday). He said there had been a crunch meeting held at Westminster that afternoon with all the MPs for the area, along with many of the council leaders, including Dave Stewart.
The Cllr Simon Letts, Leader of Southampton City Council, has subsequently pointed out that Government hasn’t officially ruled on this yet (below).
Leader of the Island Independents (who were in power at the council for the last three and half years), Cllr Julia Baker-Smith, said this final meeting “should have been the last step towards a share of almost a billion pounds and financial security for the Island’s future”.
“No way forward”
Peter went on to add that with the (Island) Conservatives saying they wanted nothing to do with Portsmouth and Southampton, MPs told him “there was no way forward”.
The council leaders (Southampton and Portsmouth) said the deal is “dead in the water” and that £1bn of government money had gone away and that it will be “sometime before they try to find a way to get that back again”.
What next?
Clearly this is very early days to try and understand what might be happening, given the deal has just been taken apart.
When asked ‘What next?’, the BBC’s Peter Henley said:
“The councils will have to think about merger – this is what’s happening in Dorset. They’re talking about forming super councils, in fact there’s a meeting tomorrow to get down that road. It’s happening in Oxfordshire as well.
“Reorganising government structure – rather than taking existing councils – electing a mayor and making some sort of a super authority.
“These things may sound technical, but in the end it’s about setting the course forward for the next decade and more than that.
“All of the potential money … for social care in particular, that could have come with this – it looks like that’s not going to happen. They’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and find some other way.
“I’m told there was will in the room for some kind of combined transport authority for Hampshire. That’s a very different thing to a Devolution deal.”
Indies: Deal was “only chance of funding”
Leader of the Island Independents Cllr Julia Baker-Smith said,
“Government have consistently said that the only chance for additional funding for the Island was via the Solent devolution deal. The Island Independents had worked hard to produce an offer from Government after confidence was lost in the Island’s commitment to the combined authority when Island Conservatives set about de-railing the process last year.
“This final meeting should have been the last step towards a share of almost a billion pounds and financial security for the Island’s future. Extremely disappointed doesn’t begin to describe the feeling after so much hard work by Island people to fight for additional funding.
“Full Council had voted for and agreed to hold a referendum on the subject. In derailing the devolution and combined authority strategy (whatever one’s views are on it…and there are differing positions on this) they have denied the public the opportunity to vote upon any proposed deal.
“It seems to me that if the elected Chamber under democratic process agreed this it should take place or an explanation given as to why not.”
Southampton Leader: “Government have not yet made their decision”
OnTheWight got in touch with Cllr Simon Letts, Leader of Southampton City Council, who challenged that the deal was dead, saying:
“While there is a lot of talk of the deal being ‘dead in the water’ the fact is that the government have not yet made their decision and I am not prepared to speculate on what their decision will be.
“We have done everything we can to secure a deal and a £1 billion investment for the Solent region and if the government reject our proposal then the fault will lie with Hampshire County Council who initially signed the deal last March only to pull out 24 hours later.
“The Solent area has been deprived of transport investment in particular for decades and a Solent authority was one way of putting this right.
“Rejection of the deal would mean all the money will go to areas like Greater Manchester where mature political leadership has delivered a shared vision. This would be a very disappointing outcome for the people of this region.
“On a positive note the process will, if nothing else, lead to greater co-operation between the different councils in the area and we will be working together to deliver a variety of projects over the coming years.”
Conservative dislike of Solent Deal
Back in September 2016 OnTheWight reported claims by the Independents that Isle of Wight council Conservatives were working with Hampshire county council to derail Solent Deal.
Dave Stewart and the Isle of Wight council Conservatives have been vocal in their dislike,
The Solent Deal flaws revealed – so lets think about promoting our Islands unique features – and fantastic development opportunities
— Dave Stewart (@councillordave1) November 30, 2016
You can watch Peter Henley’s report on BBC iPlayer (jump to 6.26)
OnTheWight has contacted the IWC press office and the leader of the council, but had not had a response at time of publishing.
Article edit
11.17: Comment from Cllr Baker-Smith added.
14:54: Added Comment from Simon Letts.
