Daniel Harper, executive officer for economy and transport at Harrogate Borough Council, has contributed to a new report from the Institute of Economic Development which seeks the views of local authority experts writing in a personal capacity about what is required from the Government’s flagship policy programme.

The Government’s blueprint for tackling regional inequality is expected to be published in the next few weeks.

Mr Harper said the importance of towns to the UK economy has frequently been overlooked in recent years but should be addressed by the White Paper.

Harrogate and other towns are in need of improved devolution policies, it has been argued.

He writes: “It is important to recognise that there is no such thing as a solution for all towns. It is clear that each town is different and so a placed-based approach is needed. It is also important that each town is not considered in isolation. An economic approach for any town can achieve more when it is defined on the basis of a district, county and sub-regional wide metric and approach.

“Within North Yorkshire, as an example, there is a need for a strategy for the area more widely and then a locally-based approach which helps deliver more widely but also recognises the difference between constituent towns and the role that they play. In this case, Scarborough is significantly different to Skipton within the wider North Yorkshire area.

“Despite much rhetoric, there is little real devolution in England away from London and this is also true of devolution away from Cardiff in Wales and Edinburgh in Scotland.

“At present, devolution has meant the delegation of existing funding streams to a sub-regional tier with fixed criteria and timescales from the sponsoring

department.

Michael Gove fails to answer plea for Levelling Up White Paper publication date...

“For towns, all this does is replace Whitehall with County Hall or the City Region Mayor’s office. To ensure that effective solutions are put in place, towns need place-based budgets and support with governance arrangements with accountability lying with

local politicians.

“Devolution and local government reform to date has been to the sub-regional level with the consequence of power being moved away from a locality. The effect is that the approach is having the opposite effect that it is designed to have.

“In some cases, the local reaction to this new approach is to set up a town or parish council but these have no real power. Furthermore, the establishment of more tiers of governance for the electorate creates more confusion and obfuscates where accountability really lies.”

Mr Harper calls for the White Paper to include ‘place-based budgets’ implemented at a town level and that all locations should develop their own levelling up strategies.

He said: “These should, in part, be town based as towns are the building blocks of functional economic areas. A town-based approach is important as the inequalities which exist within towns are often hidden but extremely deep-seated.

“None of the work suggested is at the expense of wider economic development initiatives.”

The Institute for Economic Development’s executive director Nigel Wilcock said the aim of the organisation’s report is to collate and share a “huge body of expertise often based on the lessons learned from the past”.

Other contributions have come from local authority officials in Derby, Liverpool, Lincolnshire and Dumfries in Scotland.

Mr Wilcock said: “It is our intention that each short chapter may offer something relevant to members and beyond and will stimulate further debate and thinking.

“Once that White Paper has been published and considered, the Institute for Economic Development will be responding more formally to the consultation.”

A Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said the forthcoming White Paper will include details on devolution and strengthening local leadership.

They said: “This government’s central mission is to level up every part of the country by spreading opportunity, empowering local leaders, improving public services and regenerating our town centres and high streets.

“The Government will publish a White Paper that will drive forward this central mission, setting out further details on future devolution and our plans for strengthening local accountable leadership.”

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Levelling Up White Paper must empower towns like Harrogate, senior council official says