Issue - meetings

Council considered a report which provided Members with a briefing and the opportunity to debate the Devolution proposals agreed by Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council and the North East Lincolnshire Council, in order that a formal consultation response could be submitted on behalf of West Lindsey District Council.  The four main areas it was suggested the consultation response should focus on were highlighted to the Members, as detailed in Section 3.5 of the report, and the purpose and intent of the proposed Joint Committee was briefly summarised, with Members noting this would be the subject of a future report, subject to approval.

The Chief Executive provided Members with a brief presentation in support of the report which provided an overview of the Devolution arrangement, the policy landscape in which devolution sat.  Three levels of devolution could be sought, Lincolnshire had sought the maximum level three, which gave a commitment for power and funding to come to Greater Lincolnshire, more powers, meant more responsibility, having more of a say which would increase flexibility, more flexibility would allow for better results.

To receive the powers granted by Devolution, a new body called a Combined County Authority (CCA), usually chaired by a Mayor, would need to be established.

It was stressed Devolution was not local government reorganization, whilst some transport and LEP functions would move to the CCA, the city, district and borough councils would continue to keep doing what they currently did.

The aims of the CCA and devolution were shared, these being: -

·       Investing in infrastructure

·       Boost growth and innovation

·       More high skill high wage jobs in key sectors

·       Provide training for new jobs

·       Housing in the right place

·       Improve transport links

Further details under each of those headings was provided to Members.  Finally, the stages and steps in reaching devolution were shared with Council.

Debate ensued and the former Leader expressed gratitude to colleagues in the upper tier authorities for their work in getting this far, referencing a similar exercise in 2016, when a deal could not be achieved.  

Members were encouraged by the fact that the proposed funds to be devolved into Greater Lincolnshire, and the draft agreement compared favourably in comparison with similar agreements elsewhere, both in terms of the level of funding available and the increased representation envisaged for district councils compared to other areas.

The need for fairer funding was something the District Council had always championed for.  It was suggested that having a link to the Vision 2050 document would be useful for newer Members. 

It was confirmed the village referred to at paragraph 2.2 was Kirkby on Bain, with Members noting this sat outside of West Lindsey.

Giving different comments around whether devolution was in fact re-organisation, Members sought clarity and were concerned that if this was the case this was not clear in the consultation, and in their view should be, questioning whether the consultation was valid.

In responding the Chief Executive was clear that devolution did not automatically carry any  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56