Hull and East Riding Councils to pursue their own devolution deal
Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils have confirmed they are working closely together to progress an ambitious regional devolution deal, following a meeting with MP Simon Clarke, the Minister of State leading on regional devolution.
A joint statement released by Councillors Stephen Brady, leader of Hull City Council, and Richard Burton, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, says they were keen to come up with a cross-Humber deal and had been making this case regionally and nationally.
However, they add that local authorities cannot be compelled to join a particular geography and, because North and North East Lincolnshire Councils wish to focus on Greater Lincolnshire devolution, a Humber agreement is not possible.
Their statement adds: “Hull and the East Riding have extremely strong economic and social links and opportunities and we are now focused on ensuring that these are maximised through our deal, for the benefit of all our residents and businesses.
“We have already undertaken a lot of work developing the framework for a strong devolution deal between our two authorities and we have been assured by the Minister that the Hull and East Riding deal will be given absolute priority in terms of delivery.
“We will continue collaborating closely with our neighbouring authorities, across the Humber and in Yorkshire, to ensure we retain strong working on our many areas of shared interest and opportunity.
“This is an exciting time for Hull and the East Riding and the devolution deal we will now be working towards should unlock a multi-million-pound, strategic investment in our region.
“Devolution should bring a huge economic boost to the area in terms of infrastructure, transport, adult education and skills funding as well as many other benefits for our communities.”
Henri Murison, Northern Powerhouse Partnership director, responded: “Devolution is key to achieving the long-term ambition of the Northern Powerhouse – we support this decision and will work hard to identify ways that on cross Humber issues like Freeports and Carbon Capture and Storage, the two sides of the river could work together.
“A deal for Hull and East Riding will provide more powers and the ability to collaborate enabling the region to address the climate change emergency, leading the decarbonisation agenda in the North to ensure the UK achieves net zero by 2050.”
