Councillors in Lichfield and Burntwood will decide whether to join a new West Midlands combined authority in October.
Talks have been ongoing for several months, but Lichfield District Council leader Mike Wilcox revealed that the deadline for making a final decision was looming.
The chancellor is hoping to confirm the new combined authority during his autumn statement, meaning the make-up of the new group will need to be confirmed by mid-October.
Cllr Wilcox admitted there were still questions to be answered about Lichfield District Council’s potential membership of the West Midlands link-up, but said a number of concerns raised by Conservative councillors had already been answered.
“A shadow board has now been set up and they will put together a scheme for us district and borough councils to look at. We’ll then need to call a special council meeting in October to decide whether or not we join the combined authority.
“The main question that have been bugging people has been what powers we will lose and the key message is that we won’t lose any.
“The mayor, if the combined authority picks one, will only have power over the metropolitan councils, so planning stays with our planning committee and no-one can force housing on us unless we want to take some.
“The whole reason for the combined authority is so that the Government can devolve powers and allow us to have more of a say on how money is spent on areas such as infrastructure and economic development.
“We’re still asking questions, though, such as whether we could join at a later stage if we didn’t sign up in October, or whether we could opt out if we do sign up and it doesn’t work out for us.
“Once we’ve got the answers, we’ll be able to give a good briefing to the council on what it all means and allow ourselves to make an informed choice.”
Lichfield District Council is still discussing possible options for a Staffordshire region combined authority too, although Cllr Wilcox admits time is against such a group forming.
“We’re engaging with the county council too and I’m trying to get their leader Philip Atkins to come and speak to us before October so we know what offer – if any – they are considering putting together,” he said.
“The issue for Staffordshire is that because it is so far behind in the process of putting something to the Government that nothing would happen for a year or 18 months because we’d be in a queue of other areas wanting to create a combined authority.”
