 This is to be headed up by Sylvia Yates, the former director of South Yorkshire Objective One European grants programme before the European funding was lost.The Combined Authority was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 on 1 April 2014.A devolution deal was agreed between the government and the Combined Authority in 2015 which committed £900 million for the region and a directly elected mayor of the Sheffield City Region from 2017 onwards.