Comment: 'Devo deal must benefit people and communities'

Regional Devolution is often seen as an end in itself, and in a sense it is.

Shifting decision-making and, crucially, funding out of Whitehall is good for growth, good for communities and good for democracy.

With Andy Burnham bringing new political energy to regional devolution, now is the time for a renewed impetus locally on securing a Devolution deal for Leicester and Leicestershire.

However, the end should not be the Devolution deal itself. Regional Devolution should be seen as a means to an end.

The real opportunity is the difference devolution can make to communities from Bottesford to Barwell, from East Langton to Eyres Monsell and everywhere in between.

For devolution to deliver, the proposition must demonstrate from the get go the potential it has to deliver change and improve peoples’ lives.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is right to set out a vision for a National Care Service. Devolution in Leicestershire could be an important forerunner to this, unlocking the opportunity to fully integrate the health and care systems.

This would draw on the influence and mandate of a regional mayor to cut through the complexity of the current system, built around two large local authorities and multiple NHS organisations. This has the potential to deliver a more integrated service for residents, and at the same time lead to strengthening of pay and career pathways for care workers.

Skills and training is another area where people and communities should be at the heart of a devolution vision. Regional mayors should be given strategic responsibility for commissioning all post-16 education, training and adult learning services.

This is the way to match training opportunities - including degree-level apprenticeships - with the needs and ambitions of the area’s economy. A Devolution deal should set out how employers, training providers, trade unions and wider stakeholders can be convened at a more strategic geographic level.

Devolution has the potential to secure a strategic and unified approach to building the modern homes needed across the area. We need more affordable and social homes that are energy efficient and warm in winter, and cool in the summer, built with skilled local labour.

A Devolution deal with housing central to its vision could bring communities together around that mission. This should also see house building and spatial planning fully aligned and integrated to public transport and wider infrastructure investment.

In the coming months local government re-organisation will consume significant bandwidth across local authorities. That is important, but building an ambitious, credible and unified case for Devolution needs to happen in parallel to this, not afterwards.

To succeed, a devolution proposition must be anchored in the difference it can make for communities, public services and people’s everyday lives.