West Yorkshire Mayor plans ‘one-sided’, claims senior Lib Dem

At a meeting of Leeds City Council’s Executive Board, members heard that. should all the West Yorkshire authorities give consent to the draft order, the plans are expected to be put to Parliament in December, leading the way to a mayoral election in May next year.

As part of the plans, the Government has recently agreed to remove a spatial development order from the draft deal – as councillors were concerned about a mayor having planning powers which could overrule that of local authorities.

While both Labour and Conservative councillors supported the plans, the leader of Leeds City Council’s Liberal Democrats group, Coun Stewart Golton, claimed the deal gave Government powers to change the terms as and when it saw fit.

He said: “This deal is very one-sided – if Westminster wanted to change any of the rules on the pitch, we would have to change accordingly.

“I think the spatial powers being taken away has more to do with the Government’s approach to how they are changing spatial planning powers nationally.

“This is disappointing in terms of some of the constrictions it places on us as a community that wants to do more for itself. It’s a list of delegations, rather than devolution by right.

“We rely on the goodwill of Government to continue working that way.”

The plans are set to go before a full Leeds City Council meeting later this week. Should all five West Yorkshire councils agree to its terms, Government is expected to give the green light to the deal early next year, before a mayoral election in May.

Leader of Leeds City Council’s Conservatives group Coun Andrew Carter said he would rather have had the full council meeting first to ensure all members could have a say on the deal before it was agreed.

He said: “I hope we can move the devolution deal to its conclusion. However, I would make the point that it does seem to be using the council as something of a cipher when 10 people on exec board and the other 89 can only comment.

“Now it’s been agreed that the police authority will be merged with the mayoral authority – something else which leaders agreed should be the case.

“I am a little disappointed that the scrutiny functions of the deputy mayor, who would be in charge of the police, will not be subject to the same kind of scrutiny as the elected mayor.

“The inadequate scrutiny powers of the police and crime panel will remain the same. Is this still subject to whatever the home sec decides in the review taking place into the functions and accountability of PCCs.

“But it is an excellent move forward – we are in the final stages of the devolution deal. It’s time to press on, get it signed, get it done and get moving.”

The meeting agreed to delegate the final approvals after officers’ amendments. A final form of the order is set to go before a full Leeds City Council meeting on Thursday, November 26.