Cheshire devolution bid on hold

by Lisa Reeves

Monday 13^th June 2016

Mon 13^th Jun 2016

Cheshire and Warrington's proposed devolution deal has been put on hold as politicians disagreed over the Government's insistence on an elected Mayor.

Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West & Chester and Warrington councils submitted a Devolution Growth bid to Government last year. The ambitious growth plan outlined how devolved powers would more than double the size of the sub-region's economy, create 127,000 new jobs and 139,000 new homes by 2040.

A joint statement issued from the Leaders of Warrington, Cheshire West and Chester, and Cheshire East councils said "Following political discussions in Warrington, a potential consultation with the public and businesses on a proposed devolution deal for Cheshire and Warrington has been put on hold.

"We remain strongly committed to collaborative working on a number of key initiatives and we will continue to explore how best to secure more power and resources for our area."

Councillor Samantha Dixon, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: "There is no doubt it is disappointing that we haven't been able to move forward to a consultation on a possible devolution deal at the moment. Regardless, I remain committed to getting the best possible deal for residents and will do everything I can to deliver that.

"We believe that the proposed devolution deal would benefit every resident in Cheshire and Warrington. It would double the size of our economy to £50 billion a year by 2040, secure over 100,000 new jobs, unlock development sites to build much needed new homes, improve transport links and deliver super-fast internet speeds for residents and businesses. Decisions on education and skills would also be devolved, which would secure a skilled workforce that meets the needs of local businesses and gives all residents the opportunity to achieve their potential.

"Whilst the benefits of devolution are extremely favourable for our residents, the Government's insistence on an elected Mayor has made it difficult for all politicians to come to an agreement. The majority of councillors in Cheshire West and Chester were likely to support a consultation to seek the views of residents.

"If Government is serious about delivering its Northern Powerhouse, now is the time to give up powers to sub-regions and local areas to make their own decisions and I would urge all of our parliamentarians to support this.

"I will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of our residents and communities to secure the best possible deal over the coming months.

"We remain committed to working collaboratively with our neighbours in Cheshire and Warrington on a number of important initiatives to improve the lives of local people.

"We will continue to work closely with neighbours in North Wales to deliver ambitious growth plans and to improve connectivity between our linked economies and geography."

Comments

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Pete Taylor

Monday 13^th June 2016 at 2:47 pm

How exactly would this create 100000 new jobs?
After recent repeated debacles which seem to waste untold amounts of our money I no longer believe that any of these politicians are fit to run a corner shop.

Rick Andrews

Monday 13^th June 2016 at 5:34 pm

Does anyone believe that this could double the size of the economy? Cheshire East made a 1 year forecast for its IT service company and got it hopelessly wrong. Making a 24 year forecast is ludicrous, there is not one organisation that can make such a claim. Even the banks, leading IT companies and retail businesses would not look further than 5 or 10 years. It is Madness! let's get some councillors with less ego and more intelligence. What are Samantha Dixon's qualifications to propagate this nonsense?

Nick Jones

Tuesday 14^th June 2016 at 10:20 am

These random ‘statistics of convenience’ read like some ‘Polit-bureau dictat’ to appease those who want to hear fabricated nonsense. Such ‘projections’ are merely insulting absurd pretence and demonstrate contempt to the electorate. Fortunately the public are not easily ‘hoodwinked’ by political poppycock. But we remain the paying victims of such fiscal chicanery. The small predominately rural county of Cheshire was partitioned when the case for devolution never needed to be made.. It simply isn’t a big enough county to warrant division, It’s not a Metropolitan area, even with acceptable development. So save our tax money, commence re-configuration (including loss of the duplicate positions created at both ends of the county). Samantha Dixon if you “remain committed to getting the best possible deal for residents and will do everything I can to deliver that” then no consultation required, basic economics… Just get on with it.. However the well demonstrated CEC folly of trying to run companies (in whatever guise) has demonstrated fiscal failure on an epic scale, from Lyme Green to CoSocius and everything in between. Some of those responsible remain unashamedly in post. The Northern Powerhouse is folly, Please improve the rail networks between Northern Cities and London, But understand the benefactors will be mainly Leeds and Manchester metropolitan areas, not transient rural dormitory suburbs. Do we need a Mayor? I doubt it .. but there is a strong case to have one person holding others to account.. particularly when they prefer column inches to substance.. I would like to see some honesty of purpose from our ‘elected’ few that has not been demonstrated here…. As Sir Humphrey once said….”Give it the most serious and urgent consideration, and insist on a thorough and rigorous examination of all the proposals, allied to a detailed feasibility study and budget analysis before producing a consultative document for consideration by all interested bodies and seeking comments and recommendations to be included in a brief for a series of working parties who will produce individual studies which will provide the background for a more wide-ranging document considering whether or not the proposal should be taken forward to the next stage…”

Terry Roeves

Wednesday 15^th June 2016 at 5:47 pm

Like John Prescott and his Regional Governments, a fantasy dictat of absolutely no use.
Complete a sentence, that includes the following words....
Deck, shuffling, Titanic, chairs.
CEC continue to avoid getting on with the job we pay them to do.
They boast of jobs and houses, but schools, our own university with ascience park, far more exports, import substitution, innovation - ne'er a mention.
From Liverpool docks to Manchester Airport we continue to develop more assets to import and distribute Chinese products. No wonder the country is in ever increasing debt with a negative balance of payments.
Let the good people of CE have a referendum on our future - Cexit.