Derbyshire County Council leader is cleared of alleged breach after withdrawing funding from new board

Cllr Barry Lewis, of the Conservative-led council, had previously been the Chairperson of the Vision Derbyshire and D2 Economic Prosperity committees before they were dissolved to form the new Derby and Derbyshire Strategic Leadership Board to allow Derbyshire county, district and borough councils a shared, greater say in the new Labour-led East Midlands Combined County Authority.

However, Cllr Lewis and the Cabinet withdrew its £156,324 annual funding and its role as the SLB’s host following Labour-led NE Derbyshire District Council Leader Nigel Barker’s appointment as the SLB’s new chairperson which led opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat county councillors to challenge and ‘call in’ the county council decision before a scrutiny committee.

But on July 24, after hearing arguments that Cllr Lewis had allegedly acted in ‘pique’ by ‘throwing his teddies out of the cart’ and had acted prematurely without considering the consequences for the council and residents, the committee voted by a majority that no breach had been committed.

Concerning the withdrawal of funding and the host role, Opposition Labour Group Leader, Cllr Joan Dixon, had told the meeting: “The sole reason that this decision was made was because the Leader of the majority group did not get the chair of the SLB.”

She added: “The decision on the day was announced by its own merit as a pronouncement rather than taken with professional advice of officers thus he threw his teddies out of the cart.”

Cllr Dixon claimed Cllr Lewis had failed to consider the consequences of his decision and he had jeopardised relationships with the county’s district and borough councils and at no point previously had it been stated the council’s funding and hosting of the SLB was dependent upon him being the chairperson.

She disputed an accusation the district councils and borough councils were involved in a ‘takeover’ of the SLB which is designed to give the county’s councils a voice at the new mayoral EMCCA to support the economy, investment, jobs, prosperity, transport, housing and the ‘Green’ agenda for Derbyshire.

Cllr Dixon said: “By withdrawing resources and funding for the SLB what in fact has happened is a dereliction of duty by Derbyshire County Council’s leadership at a time of great change.”

Opposition Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Ed Fordham, said Cllr Lewis had contradicted himself after Cllr Fordham claimed the Leader had previously stated people would sit as ‘equals’ on the SLB and that it was important for Derbyshire to be at the ‘forefront’ and the council’s decision had been made in the ‘heat of the moment’.

Deputy Labour Leader, Cllr Ruth George, also said: “This is a case of us working together as councils to make sure that Derbyshire – which has the overview of all the borough and district councils across our wonderful county – is able to have the leadership and to work with these councils.”

She added: “We need to have that entire overview which Derbyshire County Council has and each borough has the interests and oversight of their area in mind and sometimes these strategic views will align and sometimes they won’t.”

Cllr George argued that to take away the responsibility of hosting the SLB and the funding does not represent the interests of residents and it is ‘cutting off our noses and those noses of our residents to spite our faces’ and if politicians do not work with each other across the county the people of Derbyshire will miss out.

Labour County Cllr Jean Innes also said she was concerned Cllr Lewis’ decision could affect opportunities to improve the economy and create jobs through the SLB and EMCCA.

The opposition councillors argued there had been a breach of decision-making principles on the following grounds: A predetermined pronouncement had been made without officers’ advice; The decision was announced in a fit of pique; There has been a failed regard to the consequences; The actions do not reflect the aims previously stated with the proposed creation EMCCA and of the SLB; And the Leader had not previously stated that the council’s funding and hosting of the SLB was contingent upon him being the chairperson.

However, Cllr Lewis claimed that despite being accused of chucking his ‘toys out of the pram’ the real issue was that he had ‘chucked the opposition’s toys out of the pram’ which is why the opposition had called-in the matter for consideration.

He told the meeting: “What we are talking about is the removal of resources and in my view we are no longer the host authority. It falls to NE Derbyshire and they should put their resources behind it.”

The council and Cllr Lewis have also stated the Leader is still the council’s representative on the SLB with Deputy Leader, Cllr Simon Spencer, as his substitute, and the Leader also argued that the council’s involvement and the SLB’s influence still exists.

He told the scrutiny meeting the previous decision to combine former countywide committees into the SLB was done in good faith after the council had held the chairperson role of each and that he has had an extremely good relationship with those connected with these former committees over a number of years.

Following the opposition’s decision to ‘call-in’ Cllr Lewis and the Cabinet’s decision for consideration, the council’s Resources Improvement and Scrutiny Committee voted by a majority to confirm no breach of decision-making principles had been committed.

Derbyshire County Council has stated it still aims to continue working with the SLB to meet priorities such as business and the economy and it will consult with the SLB on matters relating to EMCCA where required as an EMCCA member.

Labour-led Amber Valley Borough Council Leader, Cllr Chris Emmas-Williams, had originally said following Cllr Lewis’ original announcement about plans to withdraw funding and the host role at the original SLB meeting that he could not believe ‘people are just chucking their teddies out of the pram’ and that he had been ‘really appalled’ about the situation.

EMCCA is expected to oversee more than two billion pounds of annual funding directly from Central Government over the next thirty years with the new devolution deal seen as part of the Government’s Levelling Up plans to attract better funding and investment across the country.

The SLB was to be funded by the county council with its share of business rates along with business rates from the districts, county and city councils with the city and county making a proportionally larger contribution.

It has since been told it will need to reassess how it would fund itself going forward – after the county council’s decision – with other councils potentially having to contribute more money.

The SLB chairperson, NE Derbyshire District Council Leader Nigel Barker, told a district council meeting on July 22: “Sadly, the Leader of the county council does not approve of my having that role, or of any district or borough leader having it for that matter, and so he has withdrawn his council’s funding for the body.

“Rather than scuppering the whole process, it has only brought together all of the district and boroughs with a renewed determination to make the SLB work and bring the prosperity and investment into our communities that has been lacking for the past 14 years.”