Devolution gone south

Neighbour councils do not want to go into partnership with Northants, leaving the two unitaries high and dry

By Sarah Ward

A devolution go ahead decision made at Corby Cube may come to nothing.

Northants being part of a fast tracked devolution deal is now looking increasingly unlikely as the other partners in the ‘South Midlands’ alliance, have instead formed their own deal.

On Thursday night as his council voted to tell government it wanted to be part of a South Midlands bid leader of West Northamptonshire Council Adam Brown said he was hopeful that the councils in Milton Keynes, Luton and Bedford would follow suit.

But instead, on Friday’s deadline day the councils of Bedford, Milton Keynes Luton put in a scaled back devolution bid, cutting out the Conservative run Northants unitaries. The councils want instead to have a four way deal without Northamptonshire. Central Bedfordshire Council however has said it would be happy with either the four way deal or a six council partnership.

Speaking on BBC Radio Northampton yesterday Cllr Brown said he now thinks Northants being part of a fast track devolution is unlikely.

The two councils have expressed their bid to government that despite the snub of their neighbours, they still want the South Midlands devolution deal to proceed. Government could force the councils to go into a partnership together, but without agreement of the other councils it could be a bumpy road and face legal challenge. The councils that are part of the fast track devolution programme could be announced as soon as January 30. They will get extra funding and seconded government staff to help them progress their new strategic authorities.

Speaking to NN Journal yesterday, the Labour leader of Luton council Hazel Simmons said there had not been a fallout with Northants and the areas would still work together.

She said: “We thought we could all agree on four (councils). We think that is best for our residents and that is what this decision has been based on.”

The Labour leader of Milton Keynes City Council Pete Marland told the MK Citizen it had decided to move forward without Northants as the four council partnership offered the ‘best chance of success.’

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The Northants unitary councils are the biggest of the six that had been due to be part of the South Midlands deal. West Northants has an electorate of around 300,000 with the figure at round 261,000 for North Northants. Central Bedfordshire is the next biggest council with atround 227,000 voters, with Milton Keynes City Council having just over 200,000 voters. The borough councils in Bedford and Luton have a roughly equivalent size of around 145,000 voters.

The South Midlands deal had seemed nailed on until the eleventh hour, as talks had been ongoing for several months and in the summer, after the election of the Labour government, the six councils formed the South Midlands Joint Committee. They have also worked together for many years as part of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP).

Leaders Adam Brown (left) and Jason Smithers have been politically outplayed.

The councils will meet next Tuesday at their joint committee meeting hosted in Milton Keynes and there could be awkward conversations as it appears the Northants leaders were out played politically and blindsided by their colleagues.

Northants is not alone in its devolution problems, highlighting a possible mis-step by the fledgling Labour government in trying to rush through change so quickly.

There are similar problems over the border as the councils within Leicestershire and Rutland are also at odds, with a proposal for local government reorganisation causing tensions. The larger Leicestershire County Council is in favour of two new councils - one covering and expanded Leicester city area - and the other made up of existing Leicestershire borough councils and Rutland. If they can't make a deal work, then Northants could possibly start talks in that direction.