York would be the “natural home” of a new mayor for York and North Yorkshire, the city council’s leader has said.

Cllr Keith Aspden also moved to calm fears that the city could become dominated by the county under the incoming joint mayoral combined authority.

York and North Yorkshire are set to get a single mayor under plans agreed with the government, unlocking millions of pounds of funding and devolving powers from Whitehall – subject to the agreement of both councils.

Cllr Keith Aspden said it was likely the final decision on where to base the headquarters would be made by the mayor themselves, with elections scheduled to take place in 2024.

“Most of the people who are putting themselves forward to be candidates would want to be seen to have their offices and headquarters in York,” he added.

“York is the city and there’s the driver for growth and many of the opportunities, not just here but across wider North Yorkshire, and of course, the connectivity that York has makes it a natural choice for the offices, staff and mayor of the combined authority.”

The headquarters of North Yorkshire County Council is in Northallerton, 30 miles to the north of York.

Councillors on the customer and corporate services scrutiny management committee were discussing the devolution deal on Monday.

Concerns were raised about York becoming a junior partner in the new authority, given North Yorkshire’s population is around three times as big and the Conservative Party’s relative dominance there.

Committee chair Cllr Jonny Crawshaw said he feared there would be an “inherent imbalance” against the city.

Council chief operating officer Ian Floyd said it would be a “retrograde step” for the combined authority to become overtly political.

He added: “He or she will have to ensure that they’ve got to focus on York and also focus on North Yorkshire and that will be their challenge to try to demonstrate that – and it will be a big challenge.”

Cllr Aspden said there were risks to entering the partnership, but that the benefits – including £18 million per year funding for 30 years and £50 million to support the York Central project – made the deal worth it.

“I certainly don’t think that those risks mean that we shouldn’t do it,” he added. “I just think that we absolutely need our eyes open as to the way we need to work and the way we need to structure the combined authority to make it a success.”

Under the devolution deal, the mayoral combined authority will be made up of the mayor and two councillors from each authority. Issues will be decided by a simple majority vote, but the mayor cannot be on the losing side.

York’s Labour group leader Cllr Claire Douglas has said basing the mayor in York would be a way of “countering the fear” that she and others had that North Yorkshire could dominate the new arrangement.