Agenda and minutes

          Council considered a report of the Chief Executive, which sought endorsement for the proposed Liverpool City Region Devolution Agreement, and to adopt a directly elected Mayor for the City Region, as required in the Government’s Cities and Devolution Bill.

          On 17 November 2015, the Chancellor had announced that a proposed Devolution Agreement had been reached, subject to Council ratification, with Liverpool City Region (LCR). This had been signed by the five local authority Leaders, the Mayor of Liverpool and the Chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

          The Agreement delivered a major transfer of resources, powers and responsibilities from Government to the City Region, alongside governance changes to adopt a directly elected City Region Mayor.

          Details of the key elements secured in the proposed Agreement were set out in the report; the proposed deal was subject to the agreement of the individual local authorities, with endorsement sought from the Combined Authority and the Local Enterprise Partnership.

          Council noted that the proposed Devolution Agreement was the first step to achieving much greater resources and responsibilities from Government and included:-

·       Economic Development;

·       Transport;

·       Skills and Employment; and

·       Housing and Spatial Planning.

Appendix 2, attached to the supplementary report, outlined the Governance principles which the City Region would adopt. It was reported that the proposed Agreement would therefore be implemented through a governance structure of a directly elected Mayor, providing strong leadership, whilst protecting the integrity and the existing role and functions of the local authorities. The Mayoral model was part of the LCR Combined Authority and would maintain the integrated approach to governance which the City Region had worked consistently to develop.

It was reported that all LCR Councils had considered these proposals at their respective Council meetings on 19 November 2015. The Combined Authority would meet on 20 November 2015 and the LEP Strategic Board would meet on 3 December 2015. The report also set out the next steps to implementation, following such confirmation of acceptance, and details of the headline financial implications. All additional and directly devolved funding streams would be managed by the Combined Authority and the newly elected Mayor for the City Region.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Council

1)    approves the Liverpool City Region Devolution Agreement as outlined in Appendix 1 attached to the supplementary report, and agrees to adopt a Directly Elected Mayor with effect from May 2017, based on the Governance Principles outlined in Appendix 2 attached to the supplementary report;

2)    notes that the Governance Principles will be incorporated into a formal constitution and will be the subject of a further report in due course;

3)    agrees to explore with Government further opportunities for devolution, noting that any proposals will be presented to future meetings of the Council for consideration and approval before being agreed and implemented; and

4)    reserves the right to withdraw from the devolution Agreement if Government fail to deliver on the proposals as outlined in the Devolution Agreement attached in Appendix 1.