England’s cities should have pooled budgets and freedom to allocate funds as they see fit, according to proposals outlined in a ‘bold devolution charter’.
Campaigners say a fundamental shift is need to empower cities through greater powers to implement local taxes, regulate buses and sweat publicly owned assets.
The charter has been drawn up by Key Cities, a group representing 23 mid-sized cities including Southampton, Hull, Wolverhampton and Milton Keynes.
It calls for ‘single city budgets’ pooling public funds into one block for a fixed five-year period so that city leaders are ‘free to allocate funds without interference from Whitehall red tape’.
Cllr Paul Watson, chair of the Key Cities Group and leader of Sunderland City Council, said: ‘All of the political parties talk a good game around both devolution and economic growth outside of London.
‘At Key Cities, we’ve taken their rhetoric and made sense of it for 23 cities covering the length and breadth of the country, creating a test bed for innovative and ambitious policy.
‘Despite all the rhetoric, we have not seen any devolution to our cities. Without devolution, we can’t deliver the growth we need – not just in our cities but also for the country as a whole.
‘Whichever party goes on to form the next government has an opportunity to fix this, embrace devolution, empower our Key Cities and stimulate growth across the country.’
