It may seem a long time now since the chancellor announced The West Yorkhire Devolution deal in the budget and focus has naturally shifted to Covid-19 related issues but progress towards implementing this deal has continued in the background. ,

The deal, the biggest ever of its kind, brings more than £1.8 billion of investment for West Yorkshire into local control. This includes £38 million per year for 30 years with significant freedoms to spend on local priorities.It will see more decisions about the region taken here instead of London and more investment for the things that matter to local people.

In key areas for our future like transport, skills, the economy and climate change, responsibility will be transferred to people who know and understand our region, enabling us to move away from one-size-fits-all national approaches to deliver locally-focused decisions which will bring greater benefits for our communities and improve people’s quality of life.

In the current context, the deal will also provide more essential funding and powers to help our region recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

A public consultation has now launched and will run until 19 July 2020 on the deal and proposals for a directly elected mayor.

Please take part and share your views as part of this. There are a number of ways to engage:

• Through the online survey on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority website.
• By emailing wyconsultation@ipsos-mori.com
• By calling the freephone telephone number 0800 141 3657
• By post using the freepost address: Freepost WY Devolution Consultation (no stamp needed).