{"id":2163572,"date":"2025-11-26T14:23:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/?p=2163572"},"modified":"2025-11-27T10:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T10:22:08","slug":"metro-mayors-handed-new-funds-in-devolution-dividend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2163572-metro-mayors-handed-new-funds-in-devolution-dividend","title":{"rendered":"Metro Mayors handed new funds in devolution dividend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chancellor Rachel Reeves opened up her Budget speech by saying “we are getting Britain building” and has kick started a major review of how regional and local government is financed in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

The government is publishing a Call for Evidence at Budget on the role business rates play in investment, and whether councils can retain the uplift in rates income.<\/p>\n

Possibly in response to the previous government\u2019s liking for sprinkling localised pots of money, she instead focused on the mechanism by which projects will be funded with a new <\/span>Mayoral Revolving Growth Fund \u2013 which the government will provide a share of the \u00a3500 million to Mayoral Strategic Authorities of Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, North East, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The fund is a strategic investment partnership which will see central government and Mayors sharing risk to overcome access to finance barriers in key city regions, accelerating investment, unlocking development and boosting growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition a Local Growth Fund \u2013 for Greater Manchester, North East, West Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, Greater Lincolnshire, Tees Valley, Hull & East Yorkshire, York & North Yorkshire and East Midlands will see each body receive a share of the \u00a3902 million over four years to invest in growth-driving interventions, including local infrastructure, business, and employment support and skills programmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reeves confirmed at least \u00a313 billion of funding for city regions with Mayors, which she said empowers Mayors with greater funding flexibility to drive growth in their regions.<\/p>\n

She is also launching five pilots with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to test how the pooling of public service budgets in local areas could break down siloes, unlock more funding for prevention and help deliver better outcomes for taxpayers. This is alongside working with Greater Manchester on its proposals to establish a \u2018Prevention Demonstrator\u2019, which includes looking at the potential of budget pooling locally.<\/p>\n

The government will also give Mayors in England powers to raise a visitor levy on overnight accommodation, and explore the option for this power to be extended to the leaders of other strategic authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reeves also said she is supporting West Yorkshire Combined Authority by establishing the Leeds City Fund. This is a business rates retention (BRR) zone in Leeds city centre, within which Leeds City Council can retain 100% of business rates growth above an agreed baseline for 25 years.<\/p>\n

She said she is considering allocating a direct share of business rates , and an offer for MSAs to establish BRR zones, based on standardised criteria and revealed that the government has already had early discussions with the Mayors of South Yorkshire, the West of England and the North East to explore options for BRR zones to support their local growth plans, and is open to discussions with other areas.<\/p>\n

The 100% pilots in Cornwall, the West of England and Liverpool City Region will be extended for a further three years, to 2028-29.<\/p>\n

Henri Murison, Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “The Chancellor has made welcome steps to fiscal devolution, such as the tourism levy, but with council tax surcharge on mansions being retained by the Treasury the debate on access to Mayors and councils having access to wider range of tax instruments, such as national insurance, will only intensify. <\/span><\/p>\n

“When our only dedicated local tax is topping up Whitehall funds, as local government is still underfunded across the most deprived parts of the country despite the fair funding review, it necessitates a complete reset in the way we fund local and regional government.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said the budget was a missed opportunity to provide social housing providers with the clarity they need to deliver on Government\u2019s generational \u00a339bn investment in social housing from the Spending Review, but welcomed the further devolution of skills and growth funding and \u00a31.3 billion of the new National Housing Delivery Fund to Mayoral Strategic Authorities. “This will help make sure funding addresses local needs and will further boost local collaboration and partnership working,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ken McPhail, Head of School at Alliance Manchester Business School said the continued commitment to devolution was encouraging, particularly the \u00a313 billion set aside for regional mayors to help them invest in areas like skills development. “In Manchester, our local leaders are well-placed to understand the different skills and talent needs of our businesses and can play an important role in supporting the economic growth we’re seeing across the region. The value Greater Manchester brings to the wider UK economy is substantial, so it’s welcome news that the government is further empowering local leaders to help build on this momentum,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Andy Burnham at Good Growth launch in Stockport<\/p><\/div>\n

Last week Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham demanded an end to \u2018begging bowl\u2019 culture and a recognition that devolution is working and delivering growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a decade of doing more for ourselves than they ever did for us, you would think the system would stop behaving as if it knows best?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He wanted the government to back his GM Good Growth Fund, and as he says \u201cto move away from a project-by-project appraisal approach, with all of its bureaucracy and delay, to a portfolio approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy doing this, we can speed up decision-making and delivery and give funders like Homes England and the National Wealth Fund accelerated achievement of their own goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident we can prove this creates a more powerful vehicle for growth and a template which can be taken around the country as other combined authorities move towards integrated settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Complete reset in the way we fund local and regional government needed says campaigner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":264565,"featured_media":2136254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782,136545],"coauthors":[116163],"class_list":["post-2163572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-local-government","tag-east-midlands","tag-featured-story","tag-national","tag-northwest","tag-south-west","tag-west-midlands","tag-yorkshire"],"yoast_head":"\nMetro Mayors handed new funds in devolution dividend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Complete reset in the way we fund local and regional government needed says campaigner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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