Work to continue to deliver fresh bid for South Midlands devolution

Your council

05 February 2025

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The Government has today announced that an expression of interest to join the Devolution Priority Programme for the South Midlands Region will not proceed. Joining the Programme would have put the region on track to receive new powers and opportunities from Government through the creation of a new Strategic Authority by May 2026.

Whilst the South Midlands Region has not been successful in the first tranche, the Government is still keen to explore a future bid from the South Midlands Region and has committed to working with all South Midlands Authorities on developing this.

North Northamptonshire Council will now work with partners in the region to explore a future bid, which would deliver huge benefits for the council area and beyond.

A devolution deal has the ability to deliver enormous economic benefits to our area for decades to come and we’re committed to working with Government and local authority partners to make this a reality.

While it’s disappointing to miss out on this initial fast-track programme, we will now continue on this journey to submit a fresh bid for the South Midlands region.

This is a very exciting time to be working collaboratively with neighbouring unitary councils and the move towards devolution fits perfectly with our BIG50 aspirations to create a proactive, proud and prosperous area for all of us.

The six South Midlands authorities already have a strong history of working together to drive economic growth.

Building on this will only bring more benefits to all of our communities through a devolution deal that could attract millions of pounds of additional investment.
Jason Smithers, Leader of North Northamptonshire Council

On January 9, North Northamptonshire Council held an extraordinary meeting of full Council.  At this meeting, the Council confirmed its support and commitment to an expression of interest to join the Devolution Priority Programme, as part of the South Midlands region, to progress a Mayoral Strategic Authority.  

Devolution is used to describe the transfer of powers from national to local government and in places with a regionally-elected mayor, this also means the transfer of significant investment to drive new infrastructure, jobs and growth.

The proposal covering the six authority areas meets all the requirements, set out by the Government in the Devolution White Paper published last month, for the creation a strategic mayoral authority.  

In September 2024, North Northamptonshire Council along with Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Luton and West Northamptonshire councils, submitted an expression of interest for creating a non-mayoral combined authority based on the South Midlands geography.

However, the Devolution white paper published in December made clear it expected all areas to be covered by a mayor and to be part of the Devolution Priority Programme.

A strategic mayoral authority is led by a regionally-elected mayor, which is entirely different to civic and ceremonial mayors at town councils and has enhanced powers and funding devolved from national government to make collective decisions on issues such as economic growth, transport, housing, skills and employment.

North Northamptonshire Council is already a unitary authority created in 2021, replacing the two-tier system of county, district and borough.

A new strategic mayoral authority including the North Northamptonshire area would not replace the existing unitary council but could benefit significantly from the greater flexibilities and funding that devolved government can provide.

More information is available online.