A new ‘super-council’ with sweeping powers across West Yorkshire and beyond has already met in private, it has emerged.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which will not even come into being until April, has now been criticised for a lack of transparency.

The Combined Authority will bring together the five West Yorkshire councils and York to oversee £1.5 billion-worth of investments in the local economy and transport network.

In the meantime, the senior figures who will be at its helm have formed a ‘shadow board’, which is planning to hold its first public meeting on Monday.

But this shadow board has already held a meeting in private on October 3, new documents reveal.

Councillor Glen Miller, leader of the Conservatives at Bradford Council, said he had been denied access to the meeting and had still not seen any minutes from it.

He said: “I don’t believe there should be secret meetings and all meetings should be open and transparent and minutes provided.”

Bradford Council leader David Green, who sits on the board, said the initial meeting had been a ‘meet and greet’ event and no decisions had been made there.

He said: “That was just a preliminary meeting really, to get everybody who’s a member round the table.”

Shadow board chairman and leader of Wakefield Council, Councillor Peter Box (Lab), said: “It is important that we do as much business as we can in public, so that people feel we are open to proper scrutiny and transparent in our discussions.

“In the past, much of what we will be discussing as a Combined Authority would have been done in London.

“By taking decisions affecting West Yorkshire away from Westminster, and instead deciding them locally, we can ensure that the investment in the region is made where it can have the biggest impact.”

The shadow board is made up of Councillors Green and Box, their counterparts at Kirklees, Calderdale, Leeds and York councils and three opposition councillors from across the county.

These include Birstall and Birkenshaw Councillor Robert Light, the leader of the Conservatives at Kirklees Council.

Roger Marsh, chairman of the Local Enterprise Partnership, is also a board member and will help develop links with local businesses.

The Combined Authority still needs to be formally approved by Parliament, and is expected to come into existence from April next year.

It will be tasked with boosting jobs and growth across the county and beyond and will oversee a £1 billion transport fund and a £400 million economic investment fund. It will also replace West Yorkshire’s transport authority, Metro.

The public meeting will take place on Monday at 1pm at the Rose Bowl conference centre, Portland Crescent, Leeds.