It is now required to meet at least four times a year
Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire Luke Campbell (Reform UK), pictured, said ‘there is so much untapped potential’ in the Humberside region at the Humber Growth Board’s first meeting(Image: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
The Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire has said “there is so much untapped potential” in the Humber region. Luke Campbell (Reform UK) made the remark at the first-ever meeting of the Humber Growth Board Joint Mayoral Committee, in Hessle.
This brings together himself and Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns (Reform UK), as the two Mayors representing north and south banks of the Humber and representatives from all four councils in the area to coordinate cross-Humber collaboration, especially on economic development. It has taken over a year since the two Mayors were first elected for the board to meet, which has been criticised by a former council leader.
The board’s first meeting saw its terms of reference confirmed. The two Mayors will rotate chairing of it on an annual basis, with Mayor Campbell chairing it first.
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‘So much untapped potential’
Each Mayor and combined authority outlined Local Growth Plans for their areas, which will guide economic development and investment priorities they will pursue in coming years. Hull and East Yorkshire’s sets out a ten-year framework, with development potential of Bridlington Bay and regeneration of Hull’s Western Docklands among identified major investment opportunities.
“There is so much untapped potential in this region and I think all of us working together can really unlock that potential,” said Mayor Campbell, talking up the benefits of cross-Humber collaboration. “Everything you do see in that video is all possible,” he said referring to a snazzy Local Growth Plan video Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority (HEYCA) have produced. “But look, if it was easy, it would all be done by now, right?”
Greater Lincolnshire’s Local Growth Plan is due for adoption in September, so its current draft was presented. Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority’s (GLCCA) chief executive Lee Sirdifield led this, and highlighted sectors for focus will be agri-food, defence, port and logistics, and advanced manufacturing and energy.
While mentioning work with partners including Humber businesses on elements such as energy, he was interrupted by Dame Andrea: “You sneaked in a ‘decarbonisation’, didn’t you?” Mr Sirdifield confirmed it was in the draft.
“That didn’t run past me,” said Dame Andrea, lightly chastising. “That won’t be there in September,” she said to laughter from some in the room, including herself, and Mayor Campbell. The Greater Lincolnshire Mayor ran on an electoral platform that “Net zero policies are crippling Lincolnshire’s economy.”
The board also discussed Local Innovation Partnership Fund (LIPF) investment coming to the area. Greater Lincolnshire will get up to £20m to support particularly agri-tech and defence. HEYCA successfully jointly bid with Teesside for £30m, for clean energy and industrial research and development projects.
Mr Sirdifield noted each combined authority supported the other’s bid. “We worked to identify areas where we could each get some benefit, which I think is a real precedent to the relationship between the organisations.”
The meeting ended with discussion of future agendas. It is now required to meet at least four times a year. North Lincolnshire Council leader Cllr Rob Waltham (Conservative) raised the prospect of further devolved powers to the combined authorities in future. “We’ve got to be getting ready for deal 2. It’s a conversation that we had at our combined authority yesterday. So we’re using this pan-Humber working to be preparing for what deal 2 looks like.”
Time taken to meet criticism
In an interview with Grimsby Live prior to the board’s first meeting, former North East Lincolnshire Council leader Cllr Philip Jackson (Conservative) criticised the time taken for it to meet. He mentioned in the context of emphasising the importance of Humber collaboration and the economic role green energy plays in North East Lincolnshire. “It’s taken almost a year to get it constituted.
“That’s been a huge frustration because all the unitary authority leaders around the Humber have all been working together to try and get some sort of a growth board moving that could talk with a single voice to Government.”
“We’ve spent so much time with the Mayors wrangling over what that’s going to look like,” he said. He added the Labour Government had emphasised cross-Humber economic working as part of the devolution deals, and there is a power of Government devolution review “if they aren’t satisfied after three years”, noting a year has already passed. Both mayors were contacted for opportunity for comment via their respective combined authorities.
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