Northamptonshire councils suffer another blow in their attempts to secure a devolution deal for the region

It has been over a year since plans for a ‘South Midlands’ authority were first publicised, which could have seen a combined authority led by an elected mayor across the whole of Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes.

Since then, the leaders of Luton and Milton Keynes councils have shut down any proposals involving the northernmost county and instead favoured a BLMK deal, putting proposals for the region at a deadlock due to population requirements for mayoral areas as set out by government.

A recent paper published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has seemingly cemented Northamptonshire as a no-man’s land.

It has suggested that only the four authorities of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) should be linked together in a spatial development strategy (SDS), which creates a wider geography for strategic planning for the next 20 years.

While this is still open to public consultation, and does not solidify any specific area or preclude Northamptonshire from a deal, it is the government’s belief that strategic planning should align with devolution areas and leaves Northants on the back foot again for any future agreement.

However, concerns have been raised by the chairman of the South Midlands Business Board, Jason Longhurst, that decisions on geographies are being based more on political and administrative boundaries, rather than the economic benefits that having a united South Midlands region could bring.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that under the SDS consultation, the Northamptonshire-Bedfordshire zone, which he said was the ‘heartland’ of a number of leading sectors in the UK such as space, aviation, and motorsport, would be chopped in half.

Mr Longhurst said: “From a business point of view, we would really desire having the larger functional economic areas rather than seeing it cut up into smaller pieces, which makes it harder to invest into.

“If you start carving it up, it just limits the potential for growth.

“What we want is a level of stability and also a frictionless way of working both in planning and economics across that area. We feel a lot of the decisions are very short-term and that would contribute to basically creating dormitory towns where you don’t get the right employment or the right opportunities for people.

“Business doesn’t stop at political boundaries.”

An extraordinary full council meeting is due to take place in Central Bedfordshire Council later this week, which says pressing ahead with a BLMK-only footprint for SDS would be ‘premature’.

Mr Longhurst said the motion demonstrates that it is not ‘too late’ for a wider discussion on the place of the South Midlands going forward.

‘Northamptonshire’s voice cannot be ignored’

Responding to a request for comment on the government’s SDS consultation, the leader of North Northamptonshire Council, Martin Griffiths, said: “North Northamptonshire has repeatedly presented clear, compelling evidence to government of the economic opportunity that a wider strategic footprint would unlock for our area.

“It is increasingly difficult to understand why government continues to overlook this, particularly when the collective strength of our region is so clearly recognised by those who invest, operate, and create jobs here including the South Midlands Business Board.

“We will of course consider the detail of the government’s announcement however our focus remains firmly on working with our local authority partners across the South Midlands and with the business community to secure the long‑term investment and powers our residents deserve.

“We will continue to present the strongest possible case, and in the coming weeks we will progress our expression of interest so that Northamptonshire’s voice — and its potential — cannot be ignored.”

Mark Arnull, leader of West Northamptonshire Council, added: “I am deeply disappointed by the government’s proposed arrangements for Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) in our region which leaves Northamptonshire very much in the cold and devalues the scale and opportunity for all of the businesses and residents across the area.

“Over many years we have seen significant government spend going into the big combined authorities, our region has a huge part to play in the future of the UK’s prosperity but by creating small sub regions yet again government will under-invest and we will be left short.

" A wider geography puts us in the top seven in terms of scale and with a combined GVA (Gross Value Added) of nearly £60bn have incredible potential to drive growth and attract investment to our area.

“The leader of NNC and I recently met Miatta Fahnbulleh, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Devolution, in advance of the government publishing its SDS consultation.

"Once again, we put forward the strong and compelling case for a strategic authority covering Northamptonshire and wider South Midlands region and the significant benefits this would bring to residents and businesses across the whole area.

“We have estimated that our region has already lost out on around £300million of investment by not having a devolution deal in place and this latest government consultation still does nothing to address this.”

The government has, at the same time, announced an intention to progress a new wave of Foundation Strategic Authorities (FSAs) in areas currently lacking devolution.

This would allow authorities to submit bids with their neighbours to access some benefits of devolution, such as devolved powers over transport, infrastructure, economic development and regeneration, without becoming a mayoral area.

WNC has said it will consider the government’s proposals around FSAs, but it feels that the option ‘falls far short of what our businesses and residents deserve’.