The leader of Nottinghamshire County Council says a regional mayor could be on the cards to secure more powers and cash for the area.
Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove unveiled the long-awaited papers on Wednesday, February 2, and the Conservative Government hopes its new strategy will give more power and money to the areas that need it most.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had pledged to bridge the gap between the rich and poor areas of the country during the 2019 General Election.
The plans will take until 2030 to deliver and pledge to improve services including education, broadband and transport.
At the heart of the strategy is a plan to create more regional mayors, such as the West Midlands' Andy Street, and counties and regions would have access to London-style powers and a mayor if they want it.
Some local leaders in Nottinghamshire such as Mansfield MP and leader of the county council, Ben Bradley, believe the white paper "is a big step forward" for the region.
Meanwhile others remain "cautiously optimistic" or simply fear it fails to bridge disparities caused by austerity.
Speaking of the papers in an interview with Nottinghamshire Live councillor Bradley said: "There are two things that people have been calling for. One is definitely what does levelling up mean, what is it we are trying to achieve?
"What people have been asking for, particularly Labour, is to pull together all this stuff into one package that you can explain. [The white paper] shows the extent of what we were already doing in this area.
"The second thing is devolution and we are on the list."
Devolved powers are on the cards - and that could come with an accountable mayor
Ahead of the publication of the white paper it was revealed Nottingham and Nottinghamshire will be one of nine areas "invited to begin negotiations" to agree county deals on devolution, whereby powers are devolved from central government to a sub-national level.
The devolution 'framework' in the white paper sets out three 'levels' of local government organisation, and the powers granted all depend upon which local government structure an area has:
Level 1 - Local authorities working together through a joint committee. This is Nottingham and Nottinghamshire's current structure (i.e. Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and the seven borough and district councils). This level would be granted three out of a possible 23 devolved powers.
Level 2 - A single, combined authority without a mayor. This level would be given 11 powers.
Level 3 - A single, combined authority with a mayor. This would be granted all 23 powers.
If a 'county deal' was agreed, a mayor would not be needed, but a mayor would be needed for a regional, East Midlands-based, deal.
It has been emphasised district and borough councils could be allowed to remain in a 'county deal', and councillor Bradley argued there would be "no binning of councils" .
"There is going to be no local government restructure," councillor Bradley said. "No one is talking about merging councils.
"That's not what we are talking about. We just mean we want to devolve 'X' levels of powers to existing leaders. If you have a regional mayor like Andy Street, that will give us more of that power and more clout, if there is someone accountable for it.
"It is a big step forward for our county and our region. If we chose to go big then that would come with all the powers and investment that Andy Street has. That's the new cash.
"Things take time. Over the course of 2022 we will see the tangible impact of the funding we have already secured, like the towns funding. The longer term stuff, improving education outcomes, will not come for a long time.
"But it is about giving people that fair chance in life."
The powers that would come with such a deal include having a strategic role in delivering services, giving an area functions to support local businesses, more control of transport and infrastructure as well as being able to control business rates.
Both levels 2 and 3 would give the mayor control of Police and Crime Commissioner functions. This role is currently held in Nottinghamshire by Caroline Henry and could cease to exist if such a structure was adopted.
The Government says it has "the aim of agreeing a number of these deals by autumn 2022".
Is funding for the Broad Marsh on the cards? 'It certainly could be'
While fairly scarce in detail the white paper did outline some potential eventualities, including support for Nottingham's southside.
This may be granted in the form of Local Growth Deals for the East Midlands, which could include "redevelopment of Nottingham’s Southside area", within which the former Broadmarsh Centre site resides.
A Levelling-Up bid failed recently but it is hoped the new vision for the former shopping centre site will lead to success this year.
Asked whether funding for the redevelopment of this site was on the cards councillor Bradley said: "It certainly could be.
"In conversations I've had with ministers about regeneration areas, they have mentioned Nottingham."
Local Growth Deals could mean cash to make such sites more appealing to investors to allow a vision to come to fruition.
The white paper also says the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy "will invest in significant [research and development] projects across the UK"
It says at least £7 in every £10 it invests will be invested outside the greater South East.
A total of £33m will be invested through the cross-sector Driving the Electric Revolution programme for Power Electronics Machines and Drives (PEMD) Industrialisation Centres, one of which could be in Nottingham.
These "open access facilities" support world class design and manufacturing process innovation and have before been mentioned as part of proposals for the East Midlands Freeport.
For example, it has been proposed a gigafactory could be built on the site of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station which will be decommissioned by 2024.
The white paper also mentions plans for the "rebuilding of the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital sites in Nottingham", which had already been reported on previously, as well as the county being confirmed as an 'education investment area' to raise school standards.
'It's a lot of rhetoric instead of reality'
While the Government says the white paper has a lot to offer, others have argued the opposite.
Alex Norris, Labour MP for Nottingham North and shadow levelling up minister, told Nottinghamshire Live he believed the papers were "a lot of rhetoric instead of reality".
He said: "What the content of this deal will be will be for another day I think.
"The reality is that we know across Nottingham people are opening their bills, or when they are filling up at the petrol station, costs are up.
"It is very hard to say how this will benefit you in the future. It is like someone robbing a tenner from your wallet, giving you a fiver back, and saying you should be grateful for it."
And Nottingham City Council's Labour leader and Dales ward councillor, David Mellen, added: "We’ve always been pro- devolution in Nottingham, but detail in terms of additional powers and new investment must be forthcoming.
"If Government is serious about genuine devolution for our area it has to be about more investment, better transport infrastructure, higher skills for local people and creating more good jobs in our area.
“The East Midlands region has suffered greatly over the past decade with chronic under investment. Our residents and our businesses expect and deserve much better than the sustained funding cuts we’ve seen and the huge regional funding variations with the East Midlands often losing out."
Meanwhile, Lilian Greenwood, the Labour MP for Nottingham South tweeted: "Meaningless to talk about levelling up when this Government has spent more than a decade cutting funding for vital services in Nottingham.
"Along with Alex Norris and Nadia Whittome I’ve written to Michael Gove calling for an end to the unfair underfunding of our city."
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