A council’s decision to join a North East devolution deal to create a new mayor for the region has been labelled a missed opportunity.

Millions of North East residents from County Durham to Northumberland will be given the power to directly elect a Mayor of the North East at an election in May 2024 if the process is approved following a local consultation. 

The Government will guarantee the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority more than £1.4 billion over the next 30 years and will hand it powers including the opportunity to improve local rail services.

But Labour councillors in County Durham continue to campaign for an individual deal for the county. Members failed to convince councillors to back its preferred option of a single county deal earlier this month, with party leader Carl Marshall accusing the coalition of being ‘incompetent’ for denying the chance of securing a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ county deal. 

Read more: Government announces £1.4bn devolution deal for North East including County Durham

And speaking after the Government announced the deal on Wednesday, cllr Marshall, said it means County Durham misses out on millions and the opportunity to set its own investment priorities.

“The Coalition’s deal represents a massive missed opportunity for County Durham,” said Cllr Marshall. “We had the chance to become masters of our own destiny, make investment decisions that impact on County Durham in County Durham and set our own agenda away from Whitehall politicians, but all they’ve done is swap governance in London for governance in Tyneside.

“A county deal, which Labour fought for, would have meant all investment could have been directly targeted at helping our communities, without having to make our case to a mayor overseeing everything from the Borders to Barnard Castle.”

Instead, Liberal Democrat council leader Amanda Hopgood’s proposal that the council secures a devolution deal that is “best for County Durham residents and businesses” was backed.

Cllr Marshall added: “Cllrs Hopgood and Bell are obsessed with a regional deal to secure their own short-term political futures, rather than put County Durham first. There was no consultation with residents before pushing this through – they don’t care about those who voted for them! They could have held a referendum, but no, our communities are ignored again.

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“The Coalition’s deal must be put to full council for members to decide, because it looks a shambles - no transport money secured for County Durham and they’ve given up a £20m pot of money the Government set aside for Durham-only projects.

“Neither does it go anywhere near addressing 12 years of Tory cuts - over £260m a year stripped from County Durham's Budget. It’s about time Cllrs Hopgood and Bell came clean – they were incapable of securing a deal for Durham and have sold our communities down the river, having failed to secure commitment for a single penny to be spent in our county.”

The changes are subject to the statutory processes, including local consultation and Parliamentary approval.