A £1.14bn devolution deal has been agreed to try to kick start economic development in the East Midlands and create an elected regional mayor.

It means leaders will be given more power by the Government to make localised decisions.

Devolution involves some key powers and funding transferring to regional politicians from Whitehall. It means more political power locally on planning, housing, roads, infrastructure and economic development.

It gives councillors more decision-making ability to spend money on major projects, including investment in public transport and regional developments.

The deal – the first of its kind in the region – was signed by the Government and leaders of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby and Derbyshire councils at the Derby Rolls-Royce hub on Tuesday afternoon (August 30).

It follows more than a year of negotiations between councils and ministers over the scale of the powers on offer.

Councils had three options, including staying in the current format of local government and receiving little-to-no extra powers from Whitehall.

But the option selected by leaders will lead to a new East Midlands mayoral combined council being created, sitting above the city and county councils with representatives from all four authorities.

This is the maximum devolution deal on offer and will mean the new authority governs 2.2 million people.

But it does not involve widespread local government reorganisation – both cities and counties will continue to operate on the same council structures.

The combined authority will then be run by the directly-elected mayor – similar in structure to the post held by Labour’s Andy Burnham in Manchester – and a new election for this post is scheduled for May 2024.

It is hoped the deal will bring the region in line with other areas where devolution is already in place including Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and the West Midlands.

And leaders believe it will reverse years of funding packages that saw the East Midlands consistently receive the lowest per-head investment in areas like transport, healthcare and education.

Councillor Ben Bradley (Con), Mansfield’s MP and leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, has been pushing for the deal since he took over the authority in May last year.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It’s hugely important, not least because it brings almost £1.2bn extra to our neck of the woods and because it’s probably more like £5-6bn by the time we’ve invested it.

“For the man on the street, it means we can deliver better bus routes, better public transport, bring in new investment into jobs, and we will have the ability locally to set up the skills and the qualifications to support those jobs.

“That, in itself, is massive, along with the extra money for all the important services people need.”

Cllr David Mellen (Lab), leader of Nottingham City Council, added: “This is really important news, the Government is choosing to invest in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby and Derbyshire.

“It’s choosing to give us more powers in our area and its choosing to follow that up with resources over the next 30 years.

“It won’t solve all of Nottingham’s problems, it won’t catch up with the under-funding of our council over the last 12 years, but it’s the way the Government is choosing to try to make things fairer.

“It’s about time Nottingham got its fair share.”

And Mr Clark, the secretary of state, believes the deal will allow the region to reach its full potential.

He confirmed it is worth £38m per year for 30 years and will lead to better settlements for leaders.

“It’s a big deal,” he said, “the East Midlands has been one of the areas that hasn’t benefited from the devolved powers places like the West Midlands and Greater Manchester have.

“What that means is decisions that were taken in London can now be taken here, with more than £1bn in the hands of local people rather than people in Whitehall.

“The East Midlands contributes so much. If you look at the companies here, the small businesses here, I think we should double down on that and give it more powers, more resources to do great things.”

However, some leaders of district and borough councils in Nottinghamshire have raised concerns over some elements of devolution.

Cllr Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), leader of Ashfield District Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “There’s no doubt that the East Midlands has seen massive underinvestment from successive Labour and Tory Governments and that this needs to change.

“The reality, however, is that residents living in a cost of living crisis will be scratching their heads asking if a new mayor will solve their problems.”

The devolution plans will now go out to public consultation in the winter and will require final parliamentary sign-off before becoming official.

The combined authority is then expected to be set up throughout 2023 before the mayoral election takes place in May 2024.

Households in Gedling borough will see their energy bills soar as the price cap is hiked to £3,549 a year, plunging many into financial hardship.

The record 80% hike in October, announced by the regulator Ofgem, will see a typical default tariff customer paying an extra £1,578.

The rise follows a 54% increase in April, which saw average bills surge to £1,971 a year.

More worryingly, it’s estimated 4.5 million pre-payment meter customers, who are often the most vulnerable and already in fuel poverty, will see their average annual bill set to go up to £3,608.

Ofgem’s chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: “We know the massive impact this price cap increase will have on households across Britain and the difficult decisions consumers will now have to make.

“I talk to customers regularly and I know that today’s news will be very worrying for many.

“The price of energy has reached record levels driven by an aggressive economic act by the Russian state. They have slowly and deliberately turned off the gas supplies to Europe causing harm to our households, businesses and wider economy. Ofgem has no choice but to reflect these cost increases in the price cap.

“The government support package is delivering help right now, but it’s clear the new prime minister will need to act further to tackle the impact of the price rises that are coming in October and next year.

“We are working with ministers, consumer groups and industry on a set of options for the incoming prime minister that will require urgent action.

“The response will need to match the scale of the crisis we have before us. With the right support in place and with regulator, government, industry and consumers working together, we can find a way through this.”

People across Gedling borough who live in homes without driveways will soon be able to install electric car charging points outside their properties following a £1.34 million investment in new underground cabling.

The move is intended to help more people easily switch to electric vehicles.

The funding has been awarded by the Government to Nottinghamshire County Council as part of a pilot scheme.

The Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot project will see Nottinghamshire County Council and the industry work together to channel 300 electric vehicle cables under roads across the county.

Councillor Neil Clarke (Con), the council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, said having an electric vehicle “shouldn’t just be restricted to those with private parking”.

The programme would provide eligible households without off-street parking the option to ask the County Council’s highway contractors, Via East Midlands Ltd, to install cable channels from their property and underneath any pavement outside so that they can charge a vehicle on the street.

Households would have to buy and install their own approved charge points with sockets to get up and running.

Nottinghamshire has been awarded £1.34m, made up of £774,000 from the Government and £360,000 from EV industry operators.

The Council will now work with Government to finalise the plans, with the aim of launching programme within months.

Penney Poyzer, a West Bridgford anti-waste campaigner and electric car owner, said: “It’s got to be good news because the big drawback is the more EV drivers there are – we’ve got to extend the network of charge points.

“In Nottingham city, we are well served but in the rural areas we need to see more access. It’s good to see the focus on residential appeal too.”

Speaking of her own “great” EV, she said: “You can get something called range anxiety [when you fear running out of power] and it took me about three months to get over it.

“But there’s a good network where you can put in your route and it plans out where your nearest charging points are.

“The funding is certainly a good start but in parallel, I want to see the strategy for increasing renewable production.

“The big critical point is if you’re charging your car and the provider isn’t using renewable sources.

“We also need far more support from the government and the extension of subsidies for people buying EVs because they tend to be more expensive.”

The scheme is part of wider Government plans to install more than 1,000 new electric vehicle charge points nationally, at a cost of £450m.

Councillor Clarke said: “This is excellent news for Nottinghamshire and means we can accelerate the roll-out of the proposed EV cable channel project on a much wider scale, potentially enabling delivery of 300 EV cable channels by 31 March 2023.

“The Government themselves recognised in their feedback to our bid that ‘a large number of people will be able to benefit from charging their vehicle at home where they previously couldn’t’ and we are proud to be delivering this for the people of Nottinghamshire.

“The approval of our bid to roll the EV cable channel pilot out more widely across Nottinghamshire means we will be reducing inequality between households with and without off-street parking.

“As a county, we must do all that we can to protect the environment, and that’s why it’s important that having an electric vehicle shouldn’t just be restricted to those with private parking.

“Nottinghamshire’s successful LEVI funding bid will help cover the costs of the delivery of the EV cable channels, which would otherwise have been funded by the household. A subsidised proposal offers a more affordable, accessible option for eligible Nottinghamshire households.”

“We are on a mission to make Nottinghamshire healthier, more prosperous and greener and initiatives like this one are a step further towards achieving our green ambitions.”

Decarbonisation Minister Trudy Harrison added: “We want to expand and grow our world-leading network of EV charge points, working closely with industry and local government, making it even easier for those without driveways to charge their electric vehicles and support the switch to cleaner travel.

“This scheme will help to level up electric vehicle infrastructure across the country, so that everyone can benefit from healthier neighbourhoods and cleaner air.”