Agenda item - Chair's Communications

119.1     The Chair provided the following Communications:

Good morning everyone and welcome to today’s Special Cabinet meeting.

We are meeting today to consider whether Brighton & Hove should submit an expression of interest to join the government’s Devolution Priority Programme. As outlined in the report, the urgency of today’s meeting has arisen due to the Government’s deadline of 10 January to receive responses to this invitation. 

The English Devolution White Paper published in December, clearly set out the Government’s ambition for all area of England to have devolved powers and for these powers to be equal. 

For many years, we have witnessed areas particularly in the North of England, reap the benefits of devolution. Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire and the East and West Midlands all have established Mayoral Combined Authorities. Their elected Mayors are prominent and known political figures who have the ear of government and are able to champion their areas. They have significant powers and integrated financial settlements enabling them to plan over a much longer period.

As a result, their residents have seen really tangible results. Following the recent announcement that the single bus fare cap would be increased to £3, Greater Manchester was able to make the decision to keep their cap at £2, because they had the powers to do so. This is exactly the kind of local decision making I think will benefit our region.

Meanwhile, the South East region has almost no devolution coverage, despite attempts in some areas to progress this. So I think it is absolutely in the interests of our city and region to reap the benefits of devolution as soon as we can. The quickest and most direct way to do this is by joining the priority programme. 

The Government’s new devolution framework will see even further powers given to directly elected Mayors, including:

       •   a statutory responsibility for the rail network

       •   the ability to charge developers a Mayoral Levy to ensure that new developments come with the necessary associated infrastructure

       •   the necessary funding to deliver on housing ambitions 

       •   and a strategic role in the delivery of the Great British Energy Local Power Plans, delivering local sustainable energy generation. 

This is to name just a few of the powers that will benefit our region, not to mention the fundamental reform of public services which will see much more integration across local authorities, police and fire services and the NHS.

So, I see this as a really exciting moment and opportunity for our city and region. I am optimistic and ambitious about devolution because of the direct benefits it would bring. There is already an extensive economic and business case for Sussex devolution to build on the experience across all our local authority boundaries.

Overall Sussex is an economically prosperous region, but there are significant regional disparities, with pockets of deprivation and unmet potential. Devolution has the potential to turn these challenges into opportunities, and support collaboration to drive economic and social benefits.

Since the publication of the White Paper in December, I have met with the Leaders of East and West Sussex and today their Cabinets are also considering the option of Sussex joining the devolution priority programme.  We will continue these conversations and are committed to working together as proposals for devolution evolve.

Finally, before we get onto the proper discussion on the report, I want to emphasise that we are still at a very early stage of the process. Should it be agreed today that Sussex submits an application to join the priority programme and if we are accepted to it by government, there will be a consultation process which follows, to ensure that our residents, businesses and partners have their say on the proposals. The government have said that they will lead this consultation but we will work closely with them to ensure that it reaches all of our communities. 

I know that there is significant interest from Councillors in today’s report. For that reason, I have been happy to extend the member engagement time today to answer as many questions as possible.