A QUESTION mark hangs over York’s future in a West Yorkshire council group in line to benefit from the government’s push for city devolution.

Yesterday, the Government published its Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill – promising more powers to areas like the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, of which York is a member, if they have an elected mayor.

But York’s new Conservative council leader Chris Steward, who spoke against the city’s membership of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) before the election, has revealed he is about to start talks with council leaders in north and east Yorkshire to see whether York should collaborate with them instead of the West Yorkshire councils.

The draft law’s publication raised fears that an area like York could be forced out of its combined authority if the other member councils wanted an elected mayor, and York disagreed.

Cllr Steward said while he is not about to pull York out of the WYCA, his party wanted to see whether other options could be better for York.

He said: “We are going to do more looking at this in the next fortnight than Labour did in four years.”

York could team up with the north or east of Yorkshire, or the city of Hull, or could even become part of a North, West and East Yorkshire super council instead, he added.

The WYCA is putting £30 million in funding forward for ring road roundabout improvements in York – which would be lost if York left the authority – and Cllr Steward said they would need to factor that benefit into any decisions about York’s membership of the authority.

The Lib Dem deputy council leader Keith Aspden said the Government’s devolution proposals were a “big opportunity” for York.

He added: “We will explore our options in the coming weeks, the crucial points are that we need to get the best deal for York and we need to ensure that residents are able to have their say and fully contribute.”