Speaking at a recent ‘business breakfast’ event at Loughborough University, the chief executive of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership warned that Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire risk losing out on investment worth billions of pounds unless a devolution deal is secured.
David Ralph said that the D2N2 LEP will press on with a bid to secure devolved powers for the so-called North Midlands devolution area, despite six of the 19 local authorities in the two counties pulling out.
Mr Ralph said that talks are taking place between local-authority officials and ministers behind the scenes, but he added: “At the moment, the devolution deal is not sufficient for us to progress with a mayoral-led combined authority, but I want people to understand the jeopardy of not having a devolution deal.
If we don’t secure a deal — and a deal is only possible if you have an elected mayor — I think we’ll lose out on about £2 billion coming into this area over the next 10-15 years. I also think we’ll lose out on a whole series of powers.”
Speaking at the same event, Leicestershire County Council leader Nick Rushton said he hoped a devolution deal for Leicester and Leicestershire would gain approval from the Government by October.
He also said that he did not rule out creating a combined authority involving Leicester, Leicestershire, Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
“At the moment, we’re going along with Leicester and Leicestershire. If we need to do deals afterwards with D2N2, of course we can do that.”
John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, said that not securing a North Midlands devolution deal would have a negative impact on businesses.
“If you’re a business based in part of the country that’s starting to fall behind on ‘Smarties’ from the Government, then your business is going to suffer.”