Burnley Council withdraw support for devolution deal

AN East Lancashire local authority has withdrawn its support for the current devolution proposal agreed by Lancashire’s other three upper-tier authorities.

In January Burnley Council reluctantly voted to back the proposal for a Combined County Authority agreed with the then Tory government and Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire County and Blackpool Councils.

At an extraordinary general meeting its Labour group boss Cllr Mark Townsend proposed that its support for the existing deal be scrapped in the light of the new Labour government’s request for views on the issue of transferring power from Westminster to the English regions by the end of September.

The meeting adopted and amended motion put forward by the authority’s Burnley Independent Group leader Cllr Afrasiab Anwar which ‘ calls on the new government to scrap the Lancashire devolution deal proposed by the upper tier authorities that would establish a County Combined Authority’.

The decision follows a Ribble Valley Council extraordinary meeting last month voting for a resolution promising to stage a local referendum if any new devolution deal threatens its future.

The decisions by the two authorities means they join several East Lancashire council leaders, including Hyndburn’s Cllr Munsif Dad, in expressing concern about the current deal and what happens next with devolution.

With the existing provisional devolution settlement currently in limbo as the new Labour administration and its deputy prime minister Angela Rayner mull whether to implement it in its current form or negotiate a new agreement, the Burnley Council meeting makes clear it wants a revised deal to be negotiated.

Cllr Anwar’s approved motion says: “The proposal to establish a Lancashire County Combined Authority received a poor

consultation response from residents and businesses in Burnley.

“This council will work with government and like-minded Lancashire council leaders to submit an ambitious devolution proposal with strong, accountable and inclusive governance for the whole county by the end of September.

“This council calls on the government to legislate so that a devolution deal, that may or may not include a directly-elected Mayor for Lancashire, can be approved with full district council involvement where reasonably practicable (one member, one vote on all matters) without the right of veto given to individual authorities who oppose the creation of a combined authority.

“This council supports a directly-elected Mayor for Lancashire if this is the only way of securing a comprehensive and ambitious devolution package.”

The meeting last week also backed motions calling for the full completion of the £36million Padiham flood defences scheme, urging on the government to adopt the definition of Islamophobia that classifies discrimination against Muslims as a form of racism and asking ministers to halt the proposed controversial changes to the Winter Fuel Payment and reconsider its restriction to claimants of Pension Credit.