Green councillors in Lancaster have said they do not accept the plans for devolution in Lancashire.
Lancashire County Council is currently undertaking a public consultation about a new Combined County Authority, organising a number of drop-in events across the county, including one on Wednesday January 17, 6-7pm in Lancaster Library.
The consultation closes on January 26.
The three upper tier councils in Lancashire say the ‘Level 2’ deal would give local leaders extra powers to tackle key priorities such as better public transport, boosting economic prosperity and improving employment and skills, and give Lancashire a stronger voice on the regional and national stage, ensuring the county does not miss out on vital funding and opportunities.
However, the Greens believe the leaders from Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Blackpool Council have got it wrong.
Green county councillor Gina Dowding said: “I think people are wondering what this new Combined Authority is all about and why Government wants to create another tier of local government.
"In short the reason is that they don’t like dealing with a large number of councils, especially in places like Lancashire where there is quite a lot of political diversity. What they want is one point of contact – and ideally an elected mayor for a large area – such as the whole of Lancashire. So they try to shoehorn councils into larger organisations by offering a few sweeteners.
“But it is clear that we are not really being offered anything of significance by Government.”
"If they were serious about devolving more powers they would looking at a devolved and consolidated transport budget – responsibility for franchised bus services.
"These are the types of changes that have made a difference to public transport in the metropolitan areas. Furthermore, I cannot see anything in this proposal which will help us to achieve net zero across Lancashire.”
Green city council group leader Caroline Jackson said: "This deal represents a body blow to the district councils that spent two years working with the Lancashire County Council and Blackpool and Blackburn to create an agreed vision for the future of Lancashire through Plan 2050.
"That vision gave the districts like Lancaster a vote in the big decisions over transport, energy development, economy, training and skills and the environment - the keys to our future. The Combined Authority Board gives all the decision - making powers to the three authorities: our local voices will simply go unheard.
“Worse for us, the sweeteners asked for by the Combined Authority included removing the UK Shared Prosperity Funding from our control to theirs. More than £5m was received in our district alone for 2022-2025. It has gone to local charities, to improving local services, to local businesses, local arts and culture and rural enterprises but from now on it will be spent by the three authorities on their priorities.
“This Level 2 deal gives the Combined Authority few new powers and little money. The only thing we know for sure about the future is that for local people in this district, it represents losing out financially without any clear or practical benefits to come."
Green county councillors and other opposition groups unsuccessfully attempted to amend the motion for devolution at an extraordinary Lancashire County Council meeting in November. However, they agreed to vote for the draft proposal to go out to public consultation.
