COMPLEX negotiations are underway to agree the future governance of Yorkshire with rival bids set to battle it out for devolved powers and funding.

Council leaders in North Yorkshire have stepped in to prevent areas of the county joining devolution plans centred on Leeds.

The Leeds City Region proposal would see West Yorkshire authorities join with York, as well as Selby, Harrogate and Craven.

However, North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) has refused to hand over some powers to the district authorities, meaning their involvement in the bid would be limited to being associate members.

NYCC leader Carl Les told The Northern Echo that allowing the district authorities control over areas such as transport would hamper the county council's ability to deliver sustainable services.

"They asked the county council if we would transfer powers to them and said 'no'," the councillor added.

"We are looking at the interests of all our residents in Hambleton, Richmondshire, Scarborough, as well as Harrogate and Craven."

In terms of policing, Cllr Les said that were the Leeds proposal to include the North Yorkshire district, it could mean half of the county working with a police and crime commissioner and half with an elected mayor, which he said would not work.

North Yorkshire County Council and York City Council instead plan to submit an alternative proposal which would see North Yorkshire and York join with East Riding to seek their own devolved powers using the existing North Yorkshire, York and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership framework.

In a further complication, these authorities would like Hull to join them, but the city currently supports an alternative proposal for a devolved Greater Yorkshire, featuring North, East and West Yorkshire authorities, and believes its case would be weakened if it were to support another bid.

A third option of a Yorkshire-wide bid, which would also include South Yorkshire, has also been discussed.

Council leaders have until September 4 to submit their outline plans for devolution to the Government.

Cllr Les described the negotiations as "very, very complicated" and claimed the talks were being made more difficult by the attitude of some of those involved and the problem of numerous council officers and senior members being away on holiday.

"If it is to work there needs to be a greater deal of communication and collaboration and at the moment we are finding that some people are quite intransigent."

He added: "The risk is if we can't get agreement we will be left behind and our residents will suffer because we wont be making local decisions on devolved finding which we all believe is a good idea."

In the north of the county, Hambleton District Council is currently drawing up a report exploring its options, while officers at neighbouring Richmondshire are due to a publish an update for members tomorrow (Friday, August 28).

The report will confirm that Richmondshire only has one option if it wants to take part in the devolution process - joining the York and North Yorkshire bid.