Selby flirts with all sides as it looks to get in on Yorkshire ‘home rule’
Selby cosies up to three rival bids as councils look to grab a slice of the 'devolution' action.
Politics & local government
More of the decisions that affect the lives of Selebians could be taken much closer to home in the future as the district council opens up about its negotiations with the groups bidding to bring ‘home rule’ to Yorkshire.
A flurry of rival bids have dropped into Chancellor George Osborne’s inbox as the deadline passed for proposals that could see a raft of powers for spending and decision-making ‘devolved’ to English regions. The subject of English devolution became a hot and widely debated topic in the aftermath of last year's referendum on Scottish independence.
For the Selby district, its location – at the heart of Yorkshire and within spitting distance of its larger city neighbours in York, Leeds and Hull – mean its leaders have been courted by three competing bids.
Each of the bids would see a 'Boris-style' mayor put in charge of clusters of the current council areas.
A Yorkshire-wide bid – dubbed ‘Greater Yorkshire’ – would see the county’s 16 council areas re-united under one figure-head. This, supporters say, would maximise the ‘brand potential’ of Yorkshire and bring greater economic benefits into the county and the ‘clear identity’ of its five million inhabitants.
A second bid, led by the leaders of North Yorkshire County Council, York and the East Riding, would see power devolved to this smaller area. Hull was initially a member of this bid, choosing to dump the bid in favour with a deal with Leeds in a spectacular deadline-day U-turn.
Finally, the third option is the group centred around the so-called ‘Leeds City Region’.
Initially biding to bring devolution to Leeds and the West Yorkshire council areas of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, leaders have managed to bring on-board leaders in Craven (Skipton), Harrogate, York and Selby as part of an enlarged project.
Both York and Selby already have ties in this part of the world, being members of the Leeds City Region, a group established to work on pan-area matters.
Though Selby has been party to all three bids, none of the proposals formally commits the district to one particular option.
Leader of Selby District Council, Cllr Mark Crane, explained, “This is about making sure we can secure the best deal for Selby in the long-term. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to enable us to take more local control over spending on the issues that affect our area and our region. This is about being able to more effectively support growth and work with businesses, and deal with key issues such as transport and connectivity, housing and energy.
“These expressions of interest are just a starting point. Now that they have been submitted, we’ll be working closely with partners to set out how a Combined Authority could work. We’ll continue to put the needs of our district firmly at the heart of these discussions and the process will involve an opportunity for our residents to have their say too.”
The rival embryonic bids have now been submitted to government and will face scrutiny by ministers in Whitehall before any preferred option is allowed to go forward.