Issue - meetings

The Assistant Director for People and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer presented the update and explained that in preparation for devolution, there were three constituent authorities leading on the devolution work and the creation of the Mayoral Combined County Authority (MCCA) for Lincolnshire, those being Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council. The District Joint Committee would provide a forum for District Councils to be represented, and the purpose of the joint committee would be to establish governance arrangements and other joint working and decision-making in preparation for devolution. Members were asked to note the work undertaken to date, and were advised that a report would proceed to full Council seeking authority for West Lindsey District Council to enter into the Joint Committee of the Lincolnshire districts.  

Councillors I. Fleetwood and M. Boles made declarations of interest in relation to their roles as County Councillors, however both stated they had not been involved in the decision making process regarding the MCCA.

Members were happy that the districts would be represented in the forum and felt it was important that the needs of West Lindsey were considered. Members questioned the cost implications of setting up and running the District Joint Committee, and the time and travel allowances for attending meetings.

The Chief Executive stated that cost would be determined when the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was established for the District Joint Committee. He anticipated that travel allowances and other expenses would be the responsibility of individual councils to fund. Once the MCCA was established, there would be other boards created in relation to Governance and Audit, Transport, Overview and Scrutiny and so on. There would be 12-15 Elected Member Representatives that would sit on each of these and would provide opportunity for involvement and engagement. The MOU would set out the terms of engagement and the commitment of all of the authorities involved.

The Chair thanked Officers and emphasised the importance of the process and opportunity for joint working across districts and encouraged Members to be actively involved in the District Joint Committee.

With no further requests to speak, and with no requirement for a vote, the report was DULY NOTED.