Devolution set to go ahead

Despite the opposition of your Focus Team, on Monday South Glos Council voted to go into the new devolution deal, where a single Mayor will make decisions covering a wide area of the West of England, but without North Somerset. The Metro Mayor will be elected on the first Thursday in May next year.

We were not against a combined authority for the West of England, but thought it was a poor deal that gives us only a fraction of the money needed to fix our transport problems, let alone anything else. We saw no need for the imposition of a Mayor and thought it made no sense without North Somerset on board. We wanted to work with the Government to bring them back in, because none of the problems facing our region - housing, transport and skills issues - end just south of Bristol.

To give one example of the problems of North Somerset being excluded, the Joint Spatial Plan that is setting out where thousands of new homes should be built covers the whole of the West of England but the Mayor is required to have a spatial plan of their own covering only the area of the Combined Authority. The last thing we need is any more planning uncertainty while that is resolved.

Have your say on devolution deal

Last week we reported that the West of England devolution deal had been agreed by three of the four authorities. You can now have your say on the deal. Find out more and send your comments to the Government on the dedicated devolution website.

Devolution deal goes ahead despite concerns

On Wednesday South Gloucestershire, Bath & North East Somerset and Bristol councils all agreed to go ahead with the West of England devolution deal, which will create a new West of England Combined Authority with a "Metro Mayor".

While the Liberal Democrats support devolution, we felt unable to support this deal and proposed an amendment calling for a renegotiation, which was outvoted. We felt £30m a year over 30 years wasn't good enough for an area with our economic clout and there were still too many unanswered questions, including around the 5 yearly tests that will decide whether we actually get the money.

The Government's insistence on a Metro Mayor led to North Somerset backing out of the deal and asking the other West of England councils to renegotiate. Instead, they have pushed ahead as three councils, leaving us with a messy situation where we will have a Joint Strategic Plan and Joint Transport Plan covering four authorities, but a combined authority and Metro Mayor covering just three.

George Osborne was very much behind the deal but it was strongly opposed by Liam Fox, now contesting the Tory Leadership, and another local BREXIT campaigner, Jacob Rees-Mogg. Given the turmoil in Westminster, we felt the councils should try to agree a better deal with the new Government.

Decisions will be made by the Metro Mayor, the two leaders from South Glos and BANES and the Bristol Mayor. When it became clear that the deal would be going ahead, we tried to win support for widening the decision making body. We felt this would not only better represent the political and geographic diversity of the West of England, but also ensure that there was buy-in across the political spectrum for long term projects that outlive a single four year council term. This proposal too was rejected.

Lib Dem Group Leader Ruth Davis said, “This deal is being pushed through despite Lib Dem concerns, and we will need to find a way to make it work. The Mayor should not be imposed on the West against our will. We call on everyone to answer the consultation to make clear to the Secretary of State that we want devolved powers, we want more money, but we don’t want an unnecessary new layer of government."

The formal consultation will take place over the summer, with the responses going to the Secretary of State. We will let you know how you can respond when we have the details.

Devolution and planning document on the agenda

On Wednesday South Gloucestershire Council will be debating the proposed West of England devolution deal, which would result in a Metro Mayor. North Somerset have already rejected the deal so if it did go ahead it would only cover South Gloucestershire, Bristol and Bath & North East Somerset. Also under consideration at the meeting is the revised draft Policies, Sites and Places plan.

You can read more in the agenda papers online. If you attend the meeting you can speak for up to 5 minutes under Items from the Public.

Council now seeking your views on devolution

We reported last week that there would be no public consultation on the West of England devolution deal until after the four councils have decided whether to accept the deal. The Liberal Democrat Leader on South Glos, Cllr Ruth Davis, put an urgent question to the Conservative Leader of the Council ahead of Wednesday night's council meeting asking why this was. This is what the devolution page looked like last week:

After Ruth submitted her written question, this was changed to say:

During May and June 2016
It is your local councillors that will be making the decision on the proposed deal in June and you can give them your views here: http://bit.ly/1Ylmb0f

The council also put out a press release.

This is a step in the right direction, although as Ruth raised in her follow-up question at the meeting, it was still not on the consultation page, where local people would expect to find all council consultations. The Leader of Council promised to look into this.

The leaders of all three main parties wrote to Oliver Letwin  several weeks ago seeking permission to hold an indicative referendum on the devolution deal on the same day as the Europe referendum. He hasn't even had the courtesy to reply. A motion was proposed at the council meeting calling for a more formal Council approach to the Minister. However, despite having written to him previously, the Conservatives amended the motion to argue why a referendum is not necessary. During the debate, your Focus Team expressed concern about the limited information that is being given to the public.

We urge everyone to read the information that has been made available and to give the council your views.

No say on metro mayor

You can now read more about the devolution deal at www.southglos.gov.uk/devolution - but the Tory-run council is only giving you a say after the decision has been taken!

The web page, published today (10th May), explains that while the decision will be taken by councillors in June, the first "consultation" will be in July or August. Your Focus Team strongly believes that local people should be involved now, before the councils decide whether to accept the deal. It would bring £30m of investment each year for the next 30 years, but the Government insists there would have to be a directly elected Mayor for the West of England.

The Lib Dem leader on South Glos Cllr Ruth Davis said: "This is one of the biggest decisions we will ever have to take. The public should absolutely be involved - and they're being told their voice is going to be shut out until after the Tories have decided."

Please do read the web page and let your Focus Team know your views.

West of England devolution deal announced

You may have heard in the news about the devolution deal for the West of England. There will be a public consultation in April and May before the four councils involved make their decision in June. You can already read the deal for yourself online.