North Yorkshire desperately needs devolution now to protect jobs and businesses, there must be no further delay - Mark Casci

The quest for devolution for Yorkshire has moved to a fresh battlefield this past few days.

Deals for South and West Yorkshire have been implemented and agreed upon respectively but now the focus turns to the north of the county, opening up a whole new arena for conflict.

The good news is that Local Government Minister Simon Clarke has met with political leaders from North Yorkshire to get the ball rolling.

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The bad news however is that central Government has made in crystal clear that no deal can be agreed without a colossal shake-up of the region’s political infrastructure.Whitehall is concerned about adding a fresh tier of government to the region which already boasts North Yorkshire County Council and seven district or borough councils, as well as City of York Council.

NidderdaleNidderdale
Nidderdale

In short some of these may have to go if North Yorkshire is to benefit from millions of pounds worth of funding over decades.

It is already looking messy and when I read the news over the weekend I could not help hear the words of Al Pacino in Godfather III: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

A devolution deal for North Yorkshire would be of revolutionary benefit to the region.

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North Yorkshire does not have the big corporates and heavy industry that the south and west of the region does but it has a rich SME marketplace that is diverse and, in many cases, world-leading.

Scarborough at nightScarborough at night
Scarborough at night

Its hospitality, tourism, agricultural and cultural sectors are among the nation’s finest. With as much as 98 per cent of its economy being small or micro business, it is a genuinely unique proposition.

And, given its geography and expertise, it can play a crucial role in the production of green energy, a sector which I truly believe will be the main driver of creating employment in the coming decades.

However, in order for it to benefit from the same access to the “levelling up” agenda laid out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson both in his campaign to secure the Tory leadership and in last December’s election, it has to face some tough choices. The members of the District and Borough Councils that serve Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Scarborough, Selby, Richmondshire and Ryedale are in all probability, unlikely to wish to sacrifice their organisations in order to secure devolution.

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They ultimately may not have a choice but it is clear that Government, once again, is only prepared to hand devolution to Yorkshire on its own terms, something which most people would agree undermines the whole ethos of devolution in the first place. All of the city, district and borough councils I have mentioned above have fine leaders among them. I am confident that a solution will be arrived upon, as we have managed before with deals in South and West Yorkshire.

Walkers and cyclists in the North York Moors.Walkers and cyclists in the North York Moors.
Walkers and cyclists in the North York Moors.

It simply has no option but to find one.

A few weeks ago I spoke to David Kerfoot, the chair of the York and North Yorkshire LEP.

I was struck by his characterization of his interactions in Whitehall. He described the devolved areas of Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield as being in a Premier League, whilst the rest of the nation were languishing in the lower leagues, jockeying for position in a fight over meagre resources. Devolution is the only readily available route to righting this historic wrong.

I have outlined the myriad strengths that North Yorkshire has but, as we face a long fight to recover the economic nuclear bomb that the Covid lockdown has landed upon us, the region faces some of the toughest challenges in the UK.

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It is unacceptable that it should miss out on a devolution deal to lead its recovery. Dividing the North of England up into a region that has winners and losers is the antithesis of what the Northern Powerhouse movement was created for.

The region has already waited five years for devolution. Had the more ambitious One Yorkshire proposal been agreed upon we would not be in this position.

But we are where we are and ensuring all of Yorkshire benefits from increased powers is more important now than ever before.

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