Government Publishes East Yorkshire Devolution Proposal

The Government has published a proposed agreement for a devolution deal between the government and Kingston Upon Hull City Council and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council which would see the creation of an elected Mayor for the region.

The proposal would see the creation of a Hull & East Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA), alongside a directly elected mayor for the area. The first mayoral election is planned for May 2025.

The new Mayoral Authority would sit alongside the existing councils which would continue to perform their current roles.

The devolution deal transfers new powers and funding from Westminster to the Hull & East Yorkshire MCA, alongside a £400 million long-term investment fund to drive economic growth and take forward local priorities. Alongside this, the deal also includes over £4.6 million of investment in brownfield funding, devolution of the Adult Education Budget, and up to £20 million of capital funding in advance of the inaugural election to drive place-based economic regeneration in Hull and East Yorkshire (subject to business cases).

The proposal is subject to ratification by both East Riding and Hull City Councils and to new legislation being passed in parliament. Both council's have indicated that a public consultation on the plan will also be undertaken.

The MAyor would be directly elected by the public for a four year term and would head up the new Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA). The MCA itself would consist of the Mayor along with two councillors from East Riding Council and two from Hull City Council. There would be four non-voting members of the MCA including the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner.

The proposal says that the MCA will be given powers over:

a.    Economic development and regeneration functions;
b.    Adult education and skills functions;
c.    Transport functions, including responsibility for an area-wide Local Transport Plan; and to set up and coordinate a Key Route Network (KRN) on behalf of the mayor;
d.    Housing supply, regeneration and place-making functions, along with provision of housing and land, land acquisition and disposal and the development and regeneration of land functions;  
e.    Finance – power to borrow up to an agreed cap for non-transport functions;
f.    Functional power of competence.

The devolution plan includes:

• The formation of the Hull & East Yorkshire MCA, and the election of a directly elected mayor to provide overall vision and leadership, seek the best value for taxpayer’s money, be directly accountable to the area’s electorate and to receive new powers on transport, housing and skills.
• Control of a £13.34 million per year allocation of investment funding, worth £400 million over 30 years, 35% capital and 65% revenue, to be invested by the Hull & East Yorkshire MCA to drive growth and take forward its priorities over the long term.
• Up to £15 million capital funding in the current Spending Review period to support transport, flood and coastal erosion programmes across the area, a brownfield employment programme in Hull, and a coastal regeneration programme in the East Riding of Yorkshire. This investment is subject to agreement of the relevant business cases.
• Up to £5 million of capital funding in the current Spending Review period to further support Hull and East Yorkshire’s economic growth priorities, including any further expansion of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Wind Facility, subject to a full business case and clear value for money.
• £4.6 million for the building of new homes on brownfield land in 2024/25, subject to sufficient eligible projects for funding being identified.
• £2 million of Mayoral Capacity Funding over 3 years (FY 2024/25 – 2026/27) to support the Hull and East Yorkshire MCA in the early stages of this deal.
• UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) planning and delivery at a strategic level from 2025/26, subject to funding, policy and delivery considerations at the next Spending Review.
• New powers to shape local skills provision to better meet the needs of the local economy and local people, including devolution of the core Adult Education Budget, as well as input into the new Local Skills Improvement Plans.
• New powers to drive the regeneration of the area and to build more affordable homes including compulsory purchase powers and the ability to establish Mayoral Development Corporations.
• New powers to improve and better integrate local transport, including the ability to introduce bus franchising, and control of appropriate local transport functions. • Responsibility for a consolidated local transport settlement for the Hull & East Yorkshire MCA, which Government will provide Hull & East Yorkshire MCA at the next Spending Review.  
• A commitment to explore a new rail partnership with Great British Railways, once established, so their priorities can be taken into consideration in future decisions regarding their local network.
• Observer representation from Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero on the Humber Energy Board, through which they will support the development of a Net Zero Strategy.
• A commitment for Hull & East Yorkshire MCA and a subset of Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s arm’s length bodies to establish a collaborative partnership to share expertise and insight across culture, heritage, sport, communities and the visitor economy.
• A commitment for Government to consider the development of a specialist medtech business park in Hull, including exploring support for Phase 1 of the project, subject to further discussions.

East Riding Council is expected to hold a special council meeting on December 21st to hear more details about the plan and approve a public consultation.

The full proposal published by the Government can be seen below.