The mayoral train is about to leave: Will we be on it?

The frustration in Mo Isap’s voice is palpable. He likens Lancashire’s tortuous devolution journey to someone ‘standing on a railway platform with a ticket, debating whether to get on the train while it is about to depart’.

Condemning the fact the county does not have an elected mayor as ‘catastrophic’, the chair of the Lancashire Business Board, part of the Combined County Authority, has done the maths and believes the county is losing an estimated £1.4m a day in devolution funding as a result.

Blackburn entrepreneur Mo, the founder of highly successful technology company IN4 Group, fears time is running out for the county to get on that devolution train and it risks being left behind as the only part of the north of England without a mayoral authority and the benefits that brings.

There is an even greater sense of urgency building, with the arrival of former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham in Number 10 on a mission to deliver even more devolution.

At the end of July, the prime minister announced plans to give all mayors of city regions in England a share of income tax revenue for the first time as part of his drive to transfer power from Westminster to local leaders.

He said he would also allow English strategic authorities to keep some cash from business rates collected in their areas and gain greater control over services such as housing, transport and skills.

And he declared that the move would ‘make good’ on his pledge to ‘bring power home’ to ‘every postcode in the country’.

However there are fears without a mayor at the helm Lancashire is set to miss out on the new revenue streams planned for city regions, which, as the second largest economy in the north west, could be substantial.

Mo has a 30-year career as a tech entrepreneur and has launched and scaled several successful startups. The business board he chairs is made up of leaders from some of Lancashire’s foremost regional, national and international firms.

Its role is to provide a private sector perspective and business voice in local policy development, support efforts to win inward investment and act as the voice of business in the development of devolution for the county.

Advancing his argument for an elected mayor, he says: “I’m coming at this from a business and economic perspective. How can we not be doing this when it is losing us £1.4m a day?”

He has come to that figure by examining the economic impact of the South Yorkshire mayoral authority since the election of Oliver Coppard, one of the lowest profile mayors nationally, and he reels off a list of funding support that area has received.

It is a list that includes a £1.5bn investment into its transport system by central government, nearly £160m allocated to back local infrastructure and the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport and a £2m grant the authority has given Rolls-Royce to unlock a £19m investment by the aero-engine giant in Rotherham’s advanced manufacturing capability.

Read the full story in Lancashire Business View issue 130