East Lindsey votes for devolution and elected mayor

East Lindsey is the fourth council in Greater Lincolnshire to agree to the formation of a combined authority with directly elected mayor – the remaining six councils will vote in the coming weeks.

The combined authority with mayor would be the body that has legal responsibility for the powers and funding devolved from Government and is a requirement of the Government for devolution to proceed.

If all 10 councils vote to progress with devolution, under the initial deal with Government significant funding and decision making would be provided to Greater Lincolnshire over the next 30 years to further develop transport, housing, skills-training and flood risk management schemes.

These responsibilities are on top of the existing services already provided by councils in Greater Lincolnshire, which would be unaffected.

Leader of the district council Coun Craig Leyland said: “The recent consultation supported the principle of joint working between the 10 councils and demonstrated the community’s support for East Lindsey to continue to pursue devolution powers from Central Government along with the associated funding. After careful consideration, the council agreed that we should be part of this exciting agenda which will also enable us to negotiate further devolution deals with Government in the coming months that benefit the residents of East Lindsey.”

The vote was cast last night (Wednesday) at a special meeting of the full council.