Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce

THE Hull Commission released its Interim Report and Call for Evidence for consultation today. It is seeking views from the public and organisations about how best to secure economic growth and prosperity for the City of Hull and the surrounding area. The Commission has asked for feedback on eleven key questions. The closing date for responses is 4th September, this timescale has been lengthened to take into account the summer holiday period.

The independent commission, was initiated by Hull City Council and is chaired by Tom Martin, President of Arco. It consists of ten independent members drawn from the public and private sectors.

The commission was asked to review the following options:

Combining the existing Hull and East Riding Councils into one local authority
Merger of the officer administrations of the two councils
Extending the City boundary to encompass either the city’s travel to work area or the built up area
Keeping the two councils but having a Combined Authority for certain functions.

The Commission has received no evidence as yet in favour of the first of these and only a little evidence in favour of the second. There has been support for the third and fourth option, which are not mutually exclusive, however the Commission is of course aware of strong opposition to boundary change expressed by the East Riding in the press and its referendum.

The Commission wants to hear ideas as to how any of the options it has considered would help meet the wider strategic challenges that need to be addressed if our area is to play a greater role in the North.

The Commission is minded to recommend that in the first instance, Hull and the East Riding should together explore the development of a Combined Authority. This would be similar to that being developed in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and elsewhere, working with the other Humber councils and perhaps others. It has set out what that process might look like and is very interested in all views in support of, or against, such a change.

The Chair of the Commission, Tom Martin said:

"The City Council presented the Hull Commission with a very real challenge. Lifted by an urgent sense of realism and by a strong desire to build upon the recent economic developments referred to in this Interim Report, the City asked us to look at the present structure and future opportunities for local government in the region. 2

The Northern Powerhouse initiative promoted by the Coalition Government 2010-2015 which is to be pursued by the present Government is a unique opportunity for Local Politicians to reconsider the existing structures.

In our view it is essential for the economic area, embraced by the Local Enterprise Partnership, not to miss out on the devolution of responsibility, power and funding which is already taking place to other Northern Cities. Closer cooperation with proximate and other Local Authorities is an imperative if economic progress and prosperity is to be achieved. However, to our dismay, the area lags behind other regions in the quality and pace of its partnership working, which makes our work all the more important.

We are very interested in any views about our findings so far and particularly welcome responses to the eleven questions set out in this report. There will also be a Public Hearing in July 2015, arrangements for which will be announced shortly."

The report may be downloaded from http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/government-society/departments/local-government-studies/research/hull-commission.aspx

Background information

The Hull Commission was asked by Hull City Council (HCC) to review "The effects of the existing boundaries on the development and regeneration of the city and sub region" and to "examine and advise on ways in which local government in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire may meet the key goals of being effective, efficient and accountable". The Commission is independent of Hull City Council and is supported by The Institute for Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham (INLOGOV).
The interim report sets out the Commission’s initial deliberations and findings. It considers that Hull and the East Riding are interdependent and share an economic area that extends to include North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. It poses eleven questions and calls for evidence from the general public and organisations in order to help inform the Commission’s final report, which it will publish later in the year.
Responses so far indicate that there is frustration that Hull and the East Riding could do much more if they were able to work more effectively in support of each other and with North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire to promote the interests of the whole area in relation to the wider Northern economy.
Evidence received to date confirms the intertwined nature of the economic present and future of the Hull, East Riding, North and North East Lincolnshire area. The Commission considers that there is a clear economic and labour market interdependence, particularly between Hull and the East Riding, based on the role of Hull as a key economic driver. This brings a need to work together at scale and to continue to secure government support for the area.
Evidence shows that the current boundary skews information about Hull relating to factors such as economic contribution, deprivation and educational attainment. It also restricts Hull’s ability effectively to manage its functional economic area with regard to the availability of land for housing, industry and infrastructure. Consequently, it might well be logical for the boundary to better reflect Hull’s economic footprint, which extends well into the East Riding. However the Local Government Boundary Commission for England is highly unlikely to entertain a proposal from one local authority without the support of the other, so this option is not currently feasible. Furthermore the Commission’s research confirmed that it has yet to carry out a review of this type and can therefore only estimate the timescale as ‘some months’. We consider that the boundary problems could be partly overcome should Hull and East Riding become a Combined Authority.
The prevalence of emerging Combined Authority models, where local authorities combine certain functions such as transport, planning, housing and skills in order to secure economic development and inward investment, prompted the Commission to review this possibility for either a partnership between Hull and the East Riding or one between Hull, the East Riding, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, reflecting the other part of the brief which was to examine four possible options for a way forward.
The Commission is in no doubt that closer joint working and focusing of effort reflecting the realities of the Hull functional economic area will be key to future success and central government support.
The Commission welcomes all contributions from individuals and organisations. It is particularly interested in receiving answers to our questions above, but would also like to receive other responses on broader matters relating to the Commission’s remit.
A public hearing is currently planned for 16th July 2015, further details on this will be posted on the website.
Responses should be sent to: responses@contacts.bham.ac.uk by 4th September 2015
Further information and links to sources may be found through the Commission’s pages on INLOGOV’s website at: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/government-society/departments/local-government-studies/research/hull-commission.aspx
A Final Report is likely to be delivered by the end of 2015.