I wrote in October – Devolution and what it means for Nottingham – to highlight the opportunity that the Government has put on the table for Nottingham and Derby to inherit powers and resources from Whitehall to better shape their economic future.
Birmingham, and the cities making up what is referred to as the Northern Powerhouse – including Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds – are well advanced in negotiating and securing their deals. We had anticipated an announcement of our deal by November of this year.
This now looks to be in jeopardy.
Securing a deal requires support from all the various local authorities of the N2D2 region; yet a small minority are not convinced.
Businesses are clearly concerned to learn of the details that a devolution deal will entail; however the principal of devolving further powers and resources from Whitehall closer to home is generally regarded as sound as it will allow for decisions to be made that are customised and better adapted to the local economic landscape.
If a deal is not secured quickly, there is a real risk that the opportunity may not present itself for some time – if at all. This will further devalue our status in the eyes of Central Government compared with a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and what may end up becoming a West ‘Midlands Engine’.
The devolution agenda has not captured a lot of media coverage and is probably not well understood or indeed of interest to the voting public – which is perhaps why insufficient pressure has been put on MPs and councillors to put local political agendas aside and secure a better deal for all.
Now is the time for businesses to express their support publicly and to apply pressure at a political level where they can. We would encourage you to raise this with local MPs to make sure a deal goes through.