Have your say on the proposals for a Combined Authority

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have provided the following information about the public consultation on the proposal for a Combined Authority:

Five local councils (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees) are asking for your views on proposals to form a Combined Authority for the area covered by the above Councils. There is a package of information available on the Councils website which is available by clicking on here.

This includes:

·           A consultation document

·           Some frequently asked questions

·           A draft governance review

·           A copy of the 9^th December 2014 Cabinet report

·           Press releases

·           Video

This sets out what the Combined Authority would do and what the local councils would continue to do. In summary, the Combined Authority would focus on economic growth and our ambition to create 25,000 new jobs for the area and would NOT recreate the former Cleveland County Council. We would like to hear your views on our proposal. So, please complete online questionnaire by no later than 31st January 2015. There is space for your own wording too. Alternatively, you can complete the survey online:

Once the consultation period has closed we will report the conclusions of the consultation to all five councils no later than March 2015. If feedback is supportive, we intend to formally ask each Borough Council to approve our ‘scheme’ in March, which is when we have to submit our proposal to the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State will then carry out further consultation before placing an ‘Order’ before both Houses of Parliament. Because of the General Election in May 2015, this is likely to mean that the earliest chance to have the Order approved before both Houses of Parliament would be Autumn 2015.