OPINION: Promising Combined Authority comes with more centralised planning regulations as part and parcel

The levelling up White Paper has now received legislative ascent, alongside some far reaching reforms such as planning through the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), it creates the new D2N2 Combined Authority for the East Midlands meaning that a new Mayor will be elected to form an administration that oversees portfolios such as Transport, Skills, Regeneration and Economic Development across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Labour recently selected our Candidate Claire Ward, a former Minister in the Blair and Brown Governments who now Chairs the Sherwood Hospital NHS Trust board and lives in Nottinghamshire. She will seek election to the position that is expected to be held in May. I outline the expectation element because, at a recent conference I attended that was hosted by East Midlands Councils, it has been revealed that the secondary legislation that will enable such an election and support the creation of the infrastructure is yet to be enacted. It raised eyebrows across the room given this is the Conservative Government’s flagship legislation calling for greater devolution but was devoid of the mechanism to permit it to be democratically elected. This naturally poses the question of what risk an early General Election could pose to the timeline of that impending contest, I am told however that assurances of its passage have been made at the highest levels of Government to ensure that if voters head to the polls Nationally prior to May, their will still be the opportunity to vote for their choice of elected Mayor at this time.

Prior to the local elections in May of this year, and the change of administration from Conservative to Labour at North East Derbyshire District Council, Councillors stated their objection to the imposition of such a layer of democracy from Central Government as it foresaw a greater degree of power being exercised over local councils as part and parcel of the wider legislation that would enact the election of such an office. My initial interpretation of the surrounding legislation suggests that it wasn’t necessarily unjustified in these concerns. Take for example the updated proposals for the National Planning Policy Framework(NPPF), whilst the new laws do give some provision for more latitude in how a District Council formulates its local plan, the basis upon which local planning decisions are made at the planning authority locally, it then delivers a direct contradiction in the agency it invests by empowering a greater degree of intervention from the Secretary of State to directly override it’s principles if it does not comply with the prevailing National agenda. A real failure for localism in devolution I know many will be frustrated with, as I am.

As a Labour Party politician I will naturally make the argument that Claire has the experience and skills, both from her time in Government as well as more widely in her contribution to public life locally, to bring maximum impact to the role and as such I will be on the campaign trail in support of her election going forward. However, it’s my outlook that initially it is crucial that cross party debate at a local level for Councillors is facilitated in order to consult and feed into the process as it navigates its final chapters of it’s pre-election creation. For that reason I will look to support further cross party conversations at NEDDC to that effect, I would encourage readers to contact their local councillors and appraise them of their perspectives and expectations of the new Combined Authority that can be fed into this debate so that it can be communicated through them to the new authority.