A DEVOLUTION deal worth up to £750 million to York and North Yorkshire will be put under the microscope at the start of next month.

The deal seeks to create a directly elected mayor, leading a new combined authority, with powers to invest an additional £540 million in transport, housing, and education over the next 30 years.

It could also bring in up to £50 million in investment to deliver the York Central scheme.

Leader of City of York Council Cllr Keith Aspden said it was a “historic moment” for the city.

“Devolution represents a real opportunity to secure investment on a new scale and put towards local priorities, from progressing crucial work on BioYorkshire, delivering York Central, or helping us become England’s first carbon negative region,” he added.

Cllr Aspden provisionally signed the deal with North Yorkshire County Council leader Cllr Carl Les and Levelling Up Secretary Greg Clarke at the National Railway Museum on August 1.

Details of the deal will be examined by councillors at a York scrutiny committee meeting on Monday, September 5 at 5pm.

Senior councillors will then consider the details and governance arrangements at the executive committee before it goes to a vote at a full council meeting, and then to a public consultation.

If agreed, the new mayoral combined authority for York and North Yorkshire could be formed by December 2023, with mayoral elections taking place in May 2024.

Helen Simpson, chair of York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “More local powers, decision making and funding can only help deliver our ambitions for the region.

“Public scrutiny of the proposed devolution deal is another step towards delivering long term investment into York and North Yorkshire.”

Carolyn Frank, from the Federation of Small Businesses, added: “FSB members generally welcome the opportunities that devolution brings, and want to see joined up thinking in both local and national government, and pro-small business thinking and strategies that create the right economic conditions for them to achieve their ambitions.”

Vice-Chancellor of the University of York Professor Charlie Jeffery praised the support for BioYorkshire – a 10-year plan to transform York and Yorkshire into the UK hub for green innovation and enterprise.

“It will boost the partnership’s ambitious green agenda to create jobs, lift the regional economy and support North Yorkshire’s goal to become one of the first areas in the UK to be carbon negative,” he added.