Budget 2015: Manchester wins more devolved powers
GEORGE OSBORNE reiterated the requirement for city regions to introduce a directly-elected mayoral system as he handed more powers to Greater Manchester while only saying conversations were continuing with Liverpool Leeds and Sheffield.
The additional powers for Greater Manchester’s new mayor will include control of the fire services, the establishment of a land commission in the city, and further collaboration on children’s services and employment programmes. However other city regions must go on waiting until they commit to the Chancellor’s preferred political structure of mayoral governance.
“The historic devolution that we have agreed with Greater Manchester in return for a directly elected mayor is available to other cities who want to go down a similar path,” Mr Osborne said.
“I can also tell the House we are working towards deals with the Sheffield and Liverpool City Regions and Leeds, West Yorkshire and partner authorities on far reaching devolution of power in return for the creation of directly elected mayors.”
The Chancellor, who told MPs that “devolution within England has only just begun” set out £30m of additional funding over three years for Transport for the North to formalise its status and to support the implementation of integrated ticketing schemes.
He added: “We’ve created Transport for the North (TfN) – now I’m putting it on a statutory footing and I can announce £30 million of funding to this new body as it connects northern England together, with seamless Oyster-style ticketing across the region.”
An interim chief executive and executive team for TfN is to be appointed by autumn 2015, followed by a chairperson by the end of the year, while an update on the Northern Transport Strategy is to be published by Budget 2016. A prioritised list of scheme options is to be produced by Budget 2016, which will follow an interim report in time for the Government’s spending review later in 2015
The Northern Powerhouse was a particularly-sensitive topic for the Chancellor, who coined the phrase and has personally driven its development, following the recent announcement of a freeze in key rail infrastructure programmes, including the electrification of the Manchester-Leeds railway line.
The final question of Prime Minister’s Questions before he delivered his summer Budget included a jibe from the Opposition benches that “the only place the Northern Powerhouse can be found is in the Prime Minister’s imagination”.
The Chancellor has committed, or re-committed, to devolving “far reaching powers over transport” to the North’s Mayor-led city regions and to improving road connectivity in the North by upgrading the A628 and dualling the A61, and by upgrading the final stretch of the M1/A1 route between Newcastle and London to motorway. Access to the Port of Immingham will also be improved with upgrades to the A160 and A180.
In the North West, he is considering extending Mersey Gateway bridge toll discounts to residents of Chester West and Chester, and Warrington, with final decisions to be made early next year, and said the Government will work with “relevant local partners carrying out a review of the tolls on the Mersey tunnels”.
Responding to the Budget statement, Labour’s interim leader Harriet Harman called for the electrification programme between Manchester and Leeds to be reinstated, saying there was “the wrong sort of government on the tracks”.
She added: “The Chancellor has made much of his commitment to devolution but you can’t build an economy on political slogans.”
Devolved powers: In detail
The additional measures will, subject to legislation, enable Greater Manchester to take on a range of additional responsibilities:
Land
GMCA will work with government to create a Greater Manchester Land Commission. The Commission will have an overview of all publicly-owned land in the region, including that owned by government and other public sector bodies. It will look at and co-ordinate how that land can be used to support Greater Manchester’s wider ambitions – including the need for 10,000 new homes a year to support its growing economy and communities – and address any barriers to such land being developed. The Commission will be jointly chaired by the Mayor and housing minister and will include ministers from other key landowning departments.
Planning
Further powers over planning will help the elected Mayor encourage regeneration and development in Greater Manchester.
These include:
The ability to create Mayoral Development Corporations which can help drive regeneration and advance complex development schemes. Any such development corporations would have to be agreed by the leader of the Greater Manchester local authority in which it would have powers.
Compulsory purchase powers for the Mayor, again subject to the agreement of the leader of the local authority in the relevant area.
Fire
In addition to taking on the functions of the Police and Crime Commissioner from 2017 (subject to legislation), the directly-elected Mayor will oversee the work of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. This will help enable emergency services to be better integrated.
Children’s Services
Local authorities and the government will work together to review where children’s services – both those delivered by councils and other providers – can be better integrated and more efficient. Any proposals would be subject to approval by government and individual local authorities, the latter remaining accountable for overseeing the delivery of children’s services in their areas.
Employment and Skills
Previous devolution arrangements have given Greater Manchester influence over around 40 per cent of skills training delivered in the area. In this new agreement the government has committed to exploring how the city region can have greater flexibility in employment and skills programmes to reflect the priorities of Greater Manchester, including greater co-commissioning responsibilities.
Sunday Trading
The government has announced it will consult this summer on devolving powers over Sunday Trading to city ‘metro’ mayors. This would give the elected Mayor of Greater Manchester flexibility to make alterations to Sunday trading regulations.
Health and social care
As health leaders in the region continue work to develop a Strategic Sustainability Plan, showing how they will deliver improved and sustainable services for Greater Manchester people, the government has pledged that this will be aligned with the Spending Review process for health and social care – enabling greater certainty as funding levels will be known for a longer period than is currently the case.
Tony Lloyd, interim Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Today’s announcements are another welcome sign of progress in Greater Manchester’s journey to becoming a place of opportunity for all.
“The role of individual local authorities in shaping the future of their own areas is as strong as ever. But by working together, we are increasingly seeing Greater Manchester being empowered to make decisions which address the region’s priorities and needs – rather than being dictated to by Whitehall and Westminster.
“There are welcome announcements in today’s budget, the increase in the minimum wage will bring money in to the pockets of Greater Manchester families and businesses. One thing that will hold us back is the decision to withdraw grants from the poorest students going to university and there is a glaring omission, the Government have today failed to keep their promises on the rail projects that are key to the delivery of northern economic growth and I challenge George Osborne to tell us when he will deliver on this promise. We also need to see the full details of proposed cuts as these emerge.”
Moves to strengthen Greater Manchester by giving the region more freedoms and flexibilities began with the groundbreaking devolution deal signed with government in November 2014. This saw the region take on new powers in transport, policing, planning and housing. Flowing from this agreement an interim mayor, paving the way for an elected mayor from 2017, has been appointed to work alongside the area’s 10 council leaders to drive forward improvements.
Building on this platform, an historic Memorandum of Understanding around health and social care integration was signed earlier this year between the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities, 12 Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England, preparing the ground for full devolution of a budget of around £6bn to Greater Manchester in 2016/17.
The March 2015 Budget also announced a pilot scheme in Greater Manchester and Cheshire East to enable the retention of 100 per cent of any additional business rates growth.
The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill, currently going through Parliament, will enable the transfer of a range of functions to Greater Manchester Combined Authority and an elected Mayor. A further Buses Bill, enabling bus franchising, will be introduced shortly.
