TALKS on devolution to regional powers could see Barnsley join a Greater Yorkshire Authority under its own mayor, it was revealed this week.
Plans to hand powers and devolved budgets to the region appeared to be in chaos following the collapse of the Sheffield City Region devolution deal which would have seen a South Yorkshire Mayor presiding over the four towns in South Yorkshire as well as several towns in North Derbyshire.
But last Friday Barnsley Council leader Coun Sir Steve Houghton joined leaders from across West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire and discussed an alliance which could see Sheffield and Rotherham left to negotiate their own devolution arrangements, with Barnsley joining with most of the rest of Yorkshire.
Sir Steve told the Chronicle: "What the 17 who were there said was we think a bigger geography is the right way forward."
Sir Steve will present the idea to a meeting of his own councillors later this month, with another meeting of the region's leaders scheduled for early September. Shortly after that will be the next meeting of Sheffield City Region where the results of discussions will be discussed.
Sir Steve said he was pleased with the results of the meeting with his counterparts across Yorkshire. "I think it was a positive and constructive meeting," he said.
"There is a long way to go. No decisions have been made and there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but we have made a very positive start.
"Clearly the original Sheffield City Region deal cannot go ahead because the district councils (in North Derbyshire) didn't want to go through with that.
"Sheffield and Rotherham said they would prefer a South Yorkshire deal, but we wanted to see if there were other options and I think this is worth exploring. We'll look at everything that is on the table."
Full story in this week's Barnsley Chronicle
