Bedfordshire councils split over devolution plan

On Friday (January 10), the leaders of West Northamptonshire and North Northamptonshire Councils wrote to the minister for local government and English devolution saying that the decision made by Luton Borough Council (LBC) and Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) it was a “huge disappointment”.

LBC and MKCC have said that the South Midlands Authorities footprint, which includes the two Northamptonshire unitary authorities, “no longer meets their criteria or aspirations” for a Mayoral Strategic Authority.

The leader of Luton Borough Council, councillor Hazel Simmons MBE, said: “After a series of meetings over recent weeks Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes councils submitted an ‘expression of interest’ to government saying that we would welcome such a development for BLMK, as we believe that this would offer the best chance of delivering improvements for our residents.”

Bedford Borough Council was approached to confirm that it agrees with the BLMK model, but neither the Conservative administration nor the council responded at the time of publication.

However, in a statement published before the Northamptonshire councils’ letter, the leader of Bedford Borough Liberal Democrats, councillor Henry Vann, said: “Our Group position is to prefer a non-mayoral model and to join with BLMK rather than BLMK and the Northamptonshire councils.”

Councillor Hazel Simmons added: “With a combined population of over one million, Luton and our neighbouring councils already have excellent connections, including long-standing joint health and care services.

“This is an opportunity to bring real change to the lives of Luton residents through greater access to better jobs, improved integrated health and social care, more affordable housing with appropriate infrastructure, better public transport, and increased sustainability.

“We will continue to work with these authorities to secure a successful devolution settlement for our area and now wait for the government’s response to our expression of interest,” she said.

When asked for its position on the BLMK proposal, Central Bedfordshire Council said the statement it issued on Friday sets out its position.

This included a comment from the council’s leader, councillor Adam Zerny: “We recognise the close working relationship and commonality we have with Bedford, Milton Keynes and Luton, but we also acknowledge that, historically, we have also worked with West Northants and North Northants councils.

“We are open to working with all interested local authorities to explore options,” he said.

Leader of the Central Bedfordshire Conservative Group, councillor Richard Wenham said the four member authority will be “too small” relative to most other combined authorities.

“It would not cover sufficient area to prepare a well defined and coherent spatial plan given the close interlocking of West Northants and MK for housing & industry,” he said.

In a written answer (January 7) to Neil O’Brien, Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, the minister of state (housing, communities and local government), Jim McMahon, said: “New unitary councils must be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government was asked if the minister for local government and English devolution would take the BLMK proposal on board, or whether the original six would be forced to work together by the government.

But it did not respond.