Lincolnshire County Council in late October voted against having an elected mayor (see below).

Will it be back on the cards now Javid has said clearly ” No Mayor, No money”?

Imagine – this is a single county voting against it, where we are being forced to take a two-county deal – two counties with very different aims and objectives which would have one mayor deciding alone on differing priorities.

And has anyone worked out how much these extra tiers of government will cost, offset against the very small sums being offered over 30 years – sums already cut from local authority budgets and for which less is being handed back than taken away?

Has anyone thought about the effect of the myriad “partnership deals” each district and city has already signed with other devolution subsidiaries which may conflict with mayoral interests (eg Greater Exeter v. Somerset v devolved Somerset/Devon or the Strata IT project (4 councils) v a devolved authority IT project?). p

Here is what they said in Lincolnshire:

“Lincolnshire county councillors have decisively rejected a proposed devolution settlement and directly elected mayor.

Many councillors expressed their anger at the plans for an elected mayor, a perceived failure of government to listen to their concerns, and fears of two extra layers of local government bureaucracy. …

… Councillor Colin Davie, portfolio holder for economic development, was another high-profile dissenting voice.

He said: “What we have on the table is a dog’s breakfast of a deal. We have a contract that has holes in it, and if I was in the private sector, I would never sign a deal like this.””