Devolution proposals for East Anglia, including powers to create a non-statutory spatial framework for Norfolk and Suffolk, look set to be taken off the table by the government after a district council resolved to reject the deal.
Norfolk County Council said in a statement that a meeting due to take place yesterday to consider the devolution proposals had been cancelled following King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council’s decision last week to withdraw from the process of setting up a mayoral combined authority for Norfolk and Suffolk.
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council was one of 12 authorities seeking consent from their members to go ahead with the devolution deal.
The proposed deal, drafted in June, included plans to devolve a series of housing and planning powers to an elected mayor for Norfolk and Suffolk.
These powers would have included the power to to create a non-statutory spatial framework, “which will act as the framework for planning across the combined authority area, and for the future development of local plans”, the draft deal said.
The mayor would also have been given powers to create mayoral development corporations or similar delivery vehicles and would have been consulted on planning applications of strategic importance in the combined authority area, according to the draft deal.
Norfolk County Council leader Cliff Jordan said that the communities secretary has been clear throughout the devolution process that for a combined authority to be set up, all participating councils would need to consent to his draft order.
“As a result of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk’s decision, we understand the secretary of state will be writing to the Norfolk and Suffolk authorities to take the current devolution deal off the table,” Jordan said.
Article originally published by Planning Resource
