YP Comment: Left behind on devolution deal

AS its regional rivals forge ahead, there is a continued sense that Yorkshire remains stuck in the slow lane when it comes to devolution.

As we report today, almost 18 months after Greater Manchester was awarded unprecedented powers which are already accelerating growth in the North West, leaders on this side of the Pennines still cannot reach a consensus on the best way forward.

While mayoral elections are due to take place in Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Liverpool next year, the rest of Yorkshire has missed the deadline to get a mayor and will subsequently sit on the sidelines until 2020.

There are, of course, mitigating factors. As a region, Yorkshire has a size and complexity no other in Britain can match. Then there is the inconvenient truth that many in the county remain opposed to the idea of an elected mayor, having already voted overwhelmingly against the idea.

It could well be that a devolution deal along the lines of a Greater Yorkshire model would bring more significant long-term gains, but working out how to ensure this brings benefits to urban, rural and coastal areas alike is no mean feat.

Then there is the fact that Sheffield has struck its own individual deal and Leeds is looking to follow suit. Contrasting political affiliations also make region-wide unity a long-shot.

The only certainty is that Yorkshire is losing out and losing ground as it gets no closer to wielding powers it has long coveted but which have always rested with the government.

It could well be that there is no model of devolution that pleases everyone. But politicians may soon conclude that some form of devolution, sooner rather than later, is preferable to none at all – and act accordingly.

A gold rush in Rio

LONDON 2012 was always going to be a tough act to follow given the tremendous success enjoyed on home soil by Britain’s Olympians and the unforgettable scenes that accompanied it. Yet over in Rio, the members of Team GB are once again lighting up the world stage.

An astonishing weekend saw records tumble and new heroes created, with Yorkshire sportsmen and women in the thick of the action. On the water there was a third gold medal for Andrew Triggs Hodge, from Hebden near Grassington, as part of a men’s eight that also featured Leeds’s Paul Bennett and York University graduate Tom Ransley.

Cyclist Ed Clancy, from Huddersfield, meanwhile completed his own hat-trick of golds on another night of British dominance inside the velodrome. And if Sheffield’s Jess Ennis-Hill follows through on her hints that Rio may mark the end of the road after narrowly failing to defend her Olympic title then she can do so knowing she has nothing left to prove. After all she has done for British athletics, no one could begrudge her spending more time with two-year-old son Reggie.

Mo Farah showed his mettle with another dazzling 10,000 metre success, this one achieved after a tumble, there was more success for Andy Murray, and gymnast Max Whitlock made history. There is more to come too, not least from Yorkshire stars Nicola Adams and the magnificent Brownlee brothers.

Through it all, the celebratory tweets of the Archbishop of York John Sentamu demonstrate the infectious power of sport. The Rio games may have been overshadowed at their start by drug controversies, and misjudged ticket pricing has resulted in too many empty seats, but the performances of Britain’s Olympians provide a welcome antidote to any lingering cynicism.

Steel City success

ANOTHER week, another deal that is set to change the face of the Steel City.

Having signed a 60-year, billion-pound construction deal with one of China’s leading construction firms, Sheffield can now look forward to a further £700m windfall from a major new manufacturing facility.

Post-Brexit doubts over the European funding needed to get the Royce Translational Centre at Sheffield University off the ground have been swept away by Chancellor Philip Hammond’s assurance that promised EU money will be honoured.

it is reassuring that the new-look Government realises the importance of such a project in terms of re-establishing both Sheffield and South Yorkshire as a whole at the heart of manufacturing innovation.

In terms of bringing investment to Yorkshire and increasing the region’s economic clout, Sheffield is certainly having a summer to remember.