Councillor Stephen Parnaby OBE, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, has questioned the independence of Hull City Council’s Commission of Inquiry into boundaries between Hull and the East Riding and has also refuted the city council’s claims that an expanded Hull would be more economically beneficial for the Humber region.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council is not questioning the integrity of the commission’s membership, but has grave misgivings about how truly independent it is from the city council.
“Repeatedly, Hull City Council has stated that the Commission of Inquiry is independent of the authority and yet the obvious questions are not being asked,” said Councillor Parnaby.
“How was the commission established? How is it run? Who appointed the commission’s membership? Who gave it its terms of reference? The answer to all of these is Hull City Council.
“As a result, the five options being looked at by the commission are Hull-centric in nature, with retaining the status quo not even an option for consideration.
“Again, I wish to stress the point that this council has NOT been asked to participate in the work of commission and has had NO direct contact from Hull City Council on the subject of boundaries.
“The council was invited to one meeting of the commission in the capacity of an observer. This is NOT participation, as any representative present would have been unable to advocate on behalf of our residents. To put this into some sort of perspective, as many as five officers from Hull City Council were present at a meeting of the commission in an advisory role.
“The Boundary Referendum and public consultation, taking place this month until Friday, 26 September, is this council’s democratic response to Hull City Council’s Commission of Inquiry and is providing an opportunity for all of our residents to express their views.
“While the city council may have taken an insular approach to deciding people’s future without asking them, this is not a view shared by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.”
Hull City Council has also repeatedly claimed that the city and the region is being held back by what it perceives to be tightly drawn administrative boundaries but has offered little in the way of explanations as to what powers/funding the authority has missed out on.
To the contrary, East Riding of Yorkshire Council is able to demonstrate that, through working in partnership with neighbouring local authorities; the private sector and other public organisations, such as the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, a number of successes have been achieved.
Councillor Parnaby said: “Over the past few years, this council has worked together with others to secure a reduction in the Humber Bridge tolls and have helped establish more enterprise zones than anywhere else in the country.
“The Humber has also done very well in attracting Government funding, with the four authorities successfully bidding and being allocated around £60 million pounds of Regional Growth Fund money and circa £104 million of Local Growth Fund money.
“It is also important to highlight that securing the multi-million-pound Siemens’ investment was a joint effort by both Hull and East Riding Councils working together for the benefit of the region – resulting in plans for a wind turbine assembly facility at Alexandra Dock and a component manufacturing facility at Paull in the East Riding.
“The mechanisms for helping the Humber region to prosper already exist and are even now delivering the outcomes necessary to support and realise the ambitions of local communities in Hull, the East Riding, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.
“I keep asking the question ‘what hasn’t happened that would have if Hull was bigger?’ and have yet to receive a response.
“It is not unfair to say that, through comments in the local media, it is Hull City Council’s aim to lead a Combined Authority in the Humber region which would have wide-reaching implications for residents on both banks of the river.
“If this was to happen, it has the potential to return the area to the days of Humberside County Council, which never won the hearts and minds of local people, and would have a detrimental impact on all that each authority has worked so hard to achieve since Local Government reorganisation in 1996.
“This council strongly believes that the future of the East Riding should be decided by local people and it is because of this belief that residents will have their say this month.
“I would urge every resident to express their view by voting, if eligible to do so, or by completing the consultation form in the September edition of Your East Riding.”
