North East Local Transport Body

The North East Local Transport Body (NELTB) will be an informal partnership.

The NELTB will cover the administrative area of the LA7 Leadership Board, which comprises Durham and Northumberland counties, and the metropolitan area of Tyne and Wear.

In September 2012, the Department for Transport (DfT) set out its intentions for the devolution of funding for local major transport schemes from 2015.

The DfT proposed that the primary decision making bodies on the use of the devolved funding will be Local Transport Bodies (LTBs).

NELTB has been given an indicative funding level of £46.7m for the four-year period commencing 2015/16. The partnership's primary role will be to decide which investments should be prioritised, to review and approve individual business cases for those investments, and to ensure effective delivery of the programme.

In order to successfully receive devolved funding from the DfT for local major schemes, the NELTB has to first satisfy all the requirements defined by government in the guidance document for Local Transport Bodies (LTBs).

The NELTB has received written confirmation that the membership, governance and working arrangements, and scheme prioritisation process (parts I and II respectively) as outlined in its assurance framework satisfy all the requirements.

The NELTB will be an unincorporated association (informal partnership). It will initially be made up of two distinct types of membership: Voting members and non-voting members.

Voting members are: Durham County Council; Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council; Newcastle City Council; North Tyneside Council; Northumberland County Council; South Tyneside Council; Sunderland City Council; and Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority.

The non-voting member is: the North East Local Enterprise Partnership.

Membership of the NELTB may be subject to a wider governance review of joint working arrangements across the NELEP area. Such a review would be intended to strengthen governance arrangements, including exploring the option of forming a North East Combined Authority with a statutory basis, to provide a strong platform for further devolution of funding, powers and responsibilities.