Business leaders across the West of England have turned up the heat on the region’s local councils to work together to gain greater economic powers as the Government’s devolution plans gather pace.
They pointed out that Chancellor George Osborne announced in his Budget this week that more autonomy will be given to the so-called Northern Powerhouse around Manchester while other Northern cities, the Midlands and Cornwall are in line for their own ‘devo deals’.
The Bath-Bristol city-region’s absence yet again from the list of cities to be awarded more powers in areas such as infrastructure, skills, education has only served to heighten the frustration of business leaders who were already alarmed at the lack of progress. 
They fear that the failure of the four local authorities – Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset – to work together is giving ministers the excuse to leave the West of England out of any fresh devolution talks– so depriving it of gaining vital funding.
A sticking point appears that the Government’s preferred model is to deal with combined authorities – which is opposed by the leaders of some of the councils.
Chairman of the West of England Initiative at Business West Prof Steve West, pictured, who is also president of Bristol Chamber of Commerce, said: “If that is not a way that works for us, then we need to find alternatives that the Government would accept.”
He hopes to host a meeting with local authority leaders in the next few weeks to see what common ground can be achieved.
“It is critical that we work with local authority leaders to really explore how we can best respond to these opportunities and serve the 1.1m people we collaborate with and who the councillors were elected to represent.”
Director of Bristol Chamber & Initiative at Business West, James Durie, added: “Many people will have noticed that the West of England was not one of the city-regions mentioned as working towards a devolution deal. The Northern Powerhouse continues to dominate the headlines and attention from government.
“George Osborne announced that Leeds & West Yorkshire, Liverpool and Sheffield are all working towards ‘devo deals’, as is Cornwall. The Manchester city region was given further new powers and the Chancellor said that he is personally ‘pushing for more power and responsibilities to be devolved to Birmingham and the Midlands’, which recently announced their intention to form a combined authority.
“Whilst the Chancellor did say that he felt that ‘devolution within England has only just begun’, all indications are that there is some seem real momentum and pace on this agenda. Many city regions are keen to explore the opportunities by working closely with the new government who are eager to deliver on their manifesto pledges.
“Leeds and Manchester are, for instance, both looking at new powers to be able to invest in improving their infrastructure and raising rates of economic growth. The Chancellor also announced a new Oyster-style card for the whole North of England and £30m of funding for the new Transport for the North scheme.”
He said commuters struggling to get to work in Bristol or Bath, or businesses finding moving goods around the region hard would be wondering why local leaders were not giving greater priority to seizing this opportunity.
“If the Northern Powerhouse and areas like Cornwall have the leadership and ambition to seize more control of their economic destiny, so should we the West of England. We have the potential to create a stronger, healthier future for all those who live and work here.”
Prof West said business leaders and the authorities had to work quickly to define what the city-region wanted out of devolution, and ensure that it had the governance and leadership capacity in place”
“Compared with the rest of the UK we may be the only cityregion outside of our capital that is a net contributor to the Treasury, but there is huge unrealised potential here and a long way for us to go to ensure we can compete in a global economy for talent and resources,” he said.
“We may also be the most liveable places in the UK but we simply cannot afford to be complacent or allow the challenges that change brings to miss this opportunity.
“Devolution could potentially mean that far more of the money raised locally would be spent locally on what matters most to us – potentially infrastructure, skills, education – in the same way that Scotland and Wales are carving out a greater say in what happens to their tax pounds.”
He said the new Government was now moving at real pace to deliver on its manifesto pledge to devolve power to major English cities and regions that came forward to negotiate new deals.
“We all want to help create inclusive, exciting, healthy and prosperous futures for everyone who lives and works here and the business community is clear that our councils need to respond now and fully explore and take forward the opportunities offered by the Chancellor,” he said.
“In return for our councils working closer together on the matters that are so important to us such as transport, housing and skills we believe we have the chance to negotiate a deal that can strengthen the long-term sustainability and prosperity of the West of England.”
“It’s firmly in our hands to shape a stronger, healthier future for the West of England.”
