Comment: 'Build an LLR Devo deal on existing council structures'

Leicestershire is being left behind.

I want to be clear about where I stand.

I believe government should deliver a Devolution deal that sits on top of the councils we already have. A deal that brings real money, real powers and real growth to our area rather than focus on local government reorganisation.

Our neighbours in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire secured a combined authority and an elected mayor without changes to their councils.

Meanwhile Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland have been left standing outside the room while investment flows elsewhere in the East Midlands.

A Devolution deal built on existing structures would give Leicestershire what it actually needs:

• a single pot of long-term investment funding under local control
• powers over transport, skills and adult education
• a stronger hand in attracting employers to sites along the M1 and M69 corridors
• a strategic voice at the national table on infrastructure.

The county council, the district councils and the city council are perfectly capable of working together strategically. In many areas they already do.

A Devolution deal should encourage and formalise that cooperation - not replace it with two vast new bodies that residents will feel further from than ever.

Cooperation, not consolidation. Local decisions taken locally, by people who know the area, accountable to the residents they serve.