Council leader says Northamptonshire's options could be 'limited' if it's left out of South Midlands Authority devolution bid

However, he has said he is ‘still holding out hope’ that the county will be included.

At the start of the month, both West and North Northamptonshire councils (WNC and NNC) agreed to team up with four of their neighbours to become a combined authority.

The letter sent to Government would have put the region in with a chance to join a devolution fast-track programme, which could see changes such as an elected mayor introduced as early as May 2026.

However, Luton, Milton Keynes and Bedford councils joined together to submit their own expression of interest for a smaller group, excluding Northamptonshire from the bid altogether.

The deal is now in the hands of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), who will give more details on bids at the end of the month.

At a South Midlands Authorities Board meeting, held in Milton Keynes on Tuesday (January 21), MK Council leader Pete Marland confirmed that three authorities had opted for the BLMK (Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes) deal.

Central Bedfordshire has not explicitly backed the smaller group, instead telling Government that it is interested in working with all local authorities to explore options.

Cllr Marland told fellow South Midlands leaders that the tight deadline for the priority programme was ‘unhelpful in some ways’ and presented challenges in terms of submitting the expressions of interest.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after the meeting, leader of WNC Cllr Adam Brown agreed that the timescale was too short and said that the Northamptonshire authorities were only told 48 hours before the deadline that they would be left out from others’ bids.

He continued: “I think it’s a shame where we are at the moment, but I’m still holding out hope that a last-minute agreement can be reached.

"I think, for me, it’s a really exciting geography and aligns with a lot of our residents’ perceptions of how they live their lives, slightly looking South rather than North.

“It was just too short a timescale to make what was really a significant decision and I think you saw that reflected in the fact that several local authorities didn’t actually go through democratic decision-making processes in the way that we did.”

When asked about the explanations suggested for Northamptonshire being snubbed, including suggestions that the county was ‘damaged goods’, he said that ‘fallacious rumours around scandals’ hadn’t played a part and that the only reasoning given by other councils was them looking afresh at their economic interests.

All six potential members entered joint expressions of interest in September 2024. Originally the group was considering coming together as a Joint Committee - one step below a combined authority.

In December, the Government published its devolution white paper, putting a stronger focus and promising greater benefits to councils willing to join a mayoral combined authority.

Conservative opposition councillors on Milton Keynes Council have accused the U-turn on Northamptonshire of being political, with both of the county’s councils containing Tory majorities, however Cllr Marland has disputed this reasoning.

When asked what would happen with the county if it was left out of the devolution deal, Cllr Brown said the options would likely be ‘fairly limited’, but that there would not be the same urgency to pursue a deal and get on the priority pathway.

He explained: “We’ve got the time to wait for the decision from Government and then adapt to that decision thereafter.”

‘Devolution deserts’

Leader of the opposition in North Northants, Cllr Matt Keane (Lab), warned against of the risks of creating ‘devolution deserts’ if the South Midlands Authority falls through.

He told the LDRS: “Northamptonshire politically has always been part of the East Midlands, our TV comes from East Anglia, our train line links to London- so it’s like we’ve got a foot in all the regions but we don’t actually belong anywhere.

“I don’t think there’s been enough dialogue between the authorities about moving forward, it just seems to be the leaders have had discussions and maybe if a lot more councillors and community were involved there might be that feeling of natural geography.”

He explained that a lot of the surrounding authorities are already in existing combined authorities or heading towards their own deals, so if Northants is excluded the only other likely option would be Leicestershire and Rutland, which has to go through local government reorganisation.

“As we know from North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire, [reorganisation] can be messy. To throw that in with a devolution deal I don’t think the priorities would be right.

“I think the best thing for Northamptonshire is to go through the South Midlands one, but if that’s not a deal we can’t be orphaned and we can’t go it alone. The government want to fill in the map of the country and we’ve got to be filled in somewhere.”

Jason Smithers, leader of NNC, said: “We firmly believe that this South Midlands Growth Area bid provides the right mix and size to bring the maximum benefits that devolution would bring.

“Ultimately it is the national Government which will decide on how devolution will look for our area. We remain absolutely committed to providing the best services for North Northamptonshire and all our residents and businesses.”

The Government is expected to reveal which authorities were successful in their bids for the fast-track devolution programme by January 30.

Consultation with members of the public will be carried out by Government later this year if proposals are successful.