Two vocal critics of the North East's proposed devolution deal have slammed a consultation after only a tiny percentage of residents responded.
Northumberland county councillors Jeff Reid and Georgina Hill have been highly critical of the devolution deal as a whole in the past - and have now joined politicians in Newcastle in criticising the consultation with the public.
From a population of around two million people across the entire region, there were just 3,235 responses - with Coun Clare Penny-Evans, a Labour representative in Heaton, branding it "limited" and "disappointing".
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Speaking to the Local Democracy Service, Northumberland's Liberal Democrat leader Coun Reid said he was "not surprised" at the poor turnout.
He continued: "People aren't interested in it. They don't want it and they know that the consultation is a sham.
"It's going to happen either way, it's not a referendum and people have already decided so it's a waste of time. Nothing anybody says is going to change the minds of those in charge.
"The only reason the councils are in favour is because they think they're going to get access to more money. To me, that's all wrong - we're owed that money and we shouldn't have to be jumping through hoops.
"The money is there, it just needs to be given to us. It's too much power in the hands of one person."
Independent councillor Georgina Hill, who represents the Berwick East ward, has previously described the devolution deal as "undemocratic" due to a lack of consultation. Following the release of the figures showing low turnout, she doubled down on that criticism.
Coun Hill said: "The claim, that devolution has public backing, needs to be taken with a very large pinch of salt. It is not difficult to get the results you want from surveys and so called 'consultations'.
"The sample size was very small too - the vast majority of people in the region did not respond and were understandably apathetic about engaging on something that had already been agreed. The only meaningful way to register an opinion is through a vote - the public were not given a referendum.
"Also, disgracefully, none of the participating authorities even put this to a debate and vote of their full councils. This is a complete and utter failure of democracy."
The proposed £4 billion deal will bring extra powers and funding to the North East, as well as a new elected mayor covering the whole region from Berwick to Durham.
The results of the consultation showed that 61.2% of people agreed with the principle of setting up the new combined authority, with 29.6% opposed, and 9.2% neither agreeing nor disagreeing. However, it did not break down how people in each of the seven council areas were split on the devolution question.
Data showed that almost two-thirds of the consultation responses came from people aged 45 to 74, while 97.1% of respondents were white. More men responded than women, while County Durham had the highest number of resident responses - 834 compared to fewer than 400 in each of the other six areas, including Northumberland.
John Softly, Newcastle City Council’s assistant director of legal services, has previously said the level of response to the consultation was “similar to what happened with other mayoral combined authority proposals in the country” and that its five questions were specifically worded to satisfy the Government’s requirements.
Responding to the criticism from the councillors, a spokesman for Northumberland Conservatives said: "This is a major opportunity for our region and it has support from all the major political parties. A well organized information sharing process was undertaken with a number of clearly advertised consultation events taking place.
"The views of the residents and others were taken into account."
The LDRS requested a comment from local authorities on the comments made by the councillors, but is yet to receive a response.
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