Following a vote on 7th October, councillors at North Warwickshire Borough Council have voted against joining the West Midlands Combined Authority. The proposal to join the authority, which is currently made up of seven councils including Birmingham and Coventry was rejected by 18 Conservative councillors, whilst the 12 Labour councillors present abstained from voting.
Conservative Group Leader, Councillor David Humphreys said: “We voted against joining the Combined Authority at this time because we have real concerns about the lack of information that has been made available. That’s not to say that we would not consider joining in the future, but we have no clear answers on how much joining this authority would cost, what the process would be to leave if we were unhappy with the way it was run and we don’t feel that the current voting arrangements would protect the residents of North Warwickshire from decisions made by the Metropolitan councils. We feel strongly that it’s important to stand up for the residents of North Warwickshire and ensure that we are able to make decisions that are in the best interests of our communities.”
The decision follows an earlier vote by Warwickshire County Council to opt out of joining the Combined Authority, due to many of the same concerns cited by the Borough Council. Warwick District Council and East Staffordshire Borough Council have also voted against the authority, whilst Rugby have delayed making a decision.
For further information, please contact David Humphreys at: [email protected]