Leaders of all 15 local authorities in Lancashire have voted for the principle of a combined authority and an elected county mayor.
Discussions began four years ago on creating a combined authority in the county, and the deal could hand Lancashire more powers, alongside funding of at least £30m a year for 30 years.
The leader of Blackpool Council, Simon Blackburn, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they were ‘closer to having a spokesperson who can make the case for the county’.
He added: ‘We cannot allow Greater Manchester and Merseyside to continue to dominate the Northern Powerhouse and devolution agenda - and I'm delighted at the maturity of the approach now being taken.’
Mayors for the neighbouring regions of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City region, as well as other English regions, were elected in 2017.
The leader of Lancashire CC, Geoff Driver, said: ‘The messages that we're getting are that the Government is seeing… a combined authority and a local government review as going hand in glove, because they see the need to simplify the local government structure.’
Council leaders are to seek advice from the Local Government Association after Westminster officials said a simplified council structure may be demanded before a combined authority and devolution deal would be approved.
This article first appeared on themj.co.uk.
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