LETTER: Devolution voting is totally unfair

I refer to the article in the July 28 issue headed '˜Consultation Begins on Devolution Plans'.
Derbyshire Labour Party anti-devolution poster.Derbyshire Labour Party anti-devolution poster.
Derbyshire Labour Party anti-devolution poster.

It is the duty of your newspaper to clearly give both sides of the argument for joining the Sheffield City Region, which , in my view, this article certainly doesn’t, as it clearly states via John Burrows: ‘As a result we will get £484 million over five years and a further £900 million over a 30-year period, with possibly much more to come’ implying all this money would be coming to Chesterfield.

My neighbour, an intelligent woman, was convinced this was the case and asked me why I was concerned about the deal. You really should clarify in that the use of this money will be decided by a panel of leaders from Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield, Bolsover, Bassetlaw and Chesterfield all of whom will all be entitled to a share of this money with voting rights as follows:

Elected mayor - two votes

Sheffield - two votes

Barnsley - two votes

Rotherham - two votes

Doncaster - two votes

Chesterfield - one vote

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So Chesterfield’s chances of getting an equal share of this money, given the financial status of Rotherham, Barnsley etc compared to Chesterfield, are, in my view, very slim indeed with ten Yorkshire votes to one Derbyshire vote being a totally unfair situation.

Kev Langham

Rye Flat Lane, Chesterfield