Agenda item

The Chairman invited the Interim Head of Paid Service to firstly give Members an overview of the Local Government Re-organisation (LGR) process to-date and going forward after which the Policy and Strategy Manager would present the report for consideration to Members.

In addressing the Chamber, the Head of Paid Service advised that LGR affected 21 areas of the country, the report before Members provided an update on LGR with Council having last considered the matter at a March meeting.  The report sought approval of the next steps, as detailed in the recommendations

Following the decision of Council, in March, an interim proposal in response to the

Government's statutory invitation was submitted. The Government had since provided feedback on all the proposals submitted in a single letter to the Greater Lincolnshire Council Leaders on 3 June this year (Appendix 2 of the report related). As well as providing feedback, the Government had committed to also providing capacity funding of just over £350,000 to Greater Lincolnshire authorities to support the development of the final proposals.

In wider context Members were advised the Devolution Bill was likely to be published in July and would likely receive Royal Assent next spring. The Bill would introduce a four-part kind of process, namely: -

·       structures /areas of new strategic authorities,

·       the powers and functions of those new strategic authorities including things like the development of spatial development strategies for areas.

·       wider reforms including abolishing the committee system. (although early indications were those districts subject to LGR would be exempt – clarification awaited

·       addressing local audit arrangements

The Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) expectation was for areas to try and collaborate and come together on a single proposal, however indications were that this was unlikely for most of the 21 two-tier areas. As a result, multiple proposals were expected, and this was being acknowledged by the officials at MHCLG.

The development of area Committees was a suggestion being keenly pursued by MHCLG but the challenge back had been the lack of blue-print for such proposals, whilst there was a Government desire to have some form of consistent approach to local engagement.

There was no sign that the Government were proposing shifting from their timetable on LGR, even though many areas were late in receiving their response to their initial proposals. There had been no deviation from the requirement to submit final proposals by 28th of November, nor to the programme for vesting days for areas not fast tracked, this being by the 1st of April 2028.

Acknowledging the wider strategic context, the Policy and Strategy Manager summarised the report to Members outlining in detail the contents of the letter of response received from the Government,  which had re-affirmed the final submission date and provided confirmation that final proposals would be evaluated against the criteria previously outlined in the statutory invitation.  The criteria had been included at Appendix 1 of the report and was summarised aloud to the Chamber.

The letter also made clear that Councils should work together and where possible, reduce the number of final proposals being submitted in each area.  Working collaboratively for a common interest of Greater Lincolnshire residents, sharing information and ensuring consistent assumptions and data sets remained a key principle of the Government's vision for this part of the process.

The paper also provided an update on the position of each authority across Greater Lincolnshire following receipt of the feedback letter. However, it was stressed that these positions were subject to change.

Finally, the report addressed West Lindsey’s position and in considering the response letter and the requirements of the final proposal, three possible options, including risks and opportunities, had been worked up for Members' consideration and discussion at an all-Member workshop held on 23 June.  Feedback from that had been used to shape the options further and inform the recommendations now presented to Members for decision.

The options considered at the Workshop had been in summary: -

·       option one - no engagement, not submitting a final proposal for local government or the organisation in Greater Lincolnshire and not actively engaging with the development of any final business cases being considered by the other authorities.

·       Option two - supportive engagement, working with all final proposals being developed for Greater Lincolnshire, with an option to take a decision to formally support a specific proposal prior to the submission date, (28 November).

·       Option three - directive engagement and a full submission, where the council would develop its own final proposal and work up a full business case, which accords with the requirements of the Government's criteria.

Indication from the Workshop had been a preference for option two, in acknowledging there remained much work to be done by both West Lindsey and across Greater Lincolnshire to prepare a final proposal.

As such Council were being asked to support the recommendations contained in the report which would allow further work to take place across all of the final proposals being developed at the current time, reserving the opportunity for a future decision on which proposal Council may choose to support prior to the November submission deadline.

Debate ensued with the former Leader, in reference to previous position statements made by North Lincolnshire, outlined conversations he had at the LGA Conference which suggested there was the potential to re-engage them and that political leaders would be willing to work with West Lindsey.  This was something the former Leader was of the view should be explored and encouraged dialogue to commence and for there to be Member engagement at any such discussions.

Officers outlined the position as reported to the Lincolnshire Chief Executives meeting on 4 June and were pleased to confirm that Lincolnshire Council’s had written to the two unitary councils to the north seeking agreement to data share, with a positive response and agreement having now been received from North Lincolnshire.

In responding to a Member’s comments, that in his view a single county option, should not be acceptable or the preferred option, Officers gave reassurance that at this stage the report was not recommending that the District Council support any one proposal but that they continue to work alongside all authorities and make a decision around their preference at a later date. The single county option was being developed by the County Council, but no formal decision had been made.

Officers were thanked for all their work to-date and for the clear and informative way the complex situation had been documented.  Option two was considered to be a wise position at present and the Opposition Group Leader indicated her Group could support the recommendations.

Members spoke of previous good partnership working with NKDC and City of Lincoln and still had a desire for this to be considered as an option but were not opposed to the suggested way forward.

In responding to Members’ questions regarding the capacity funding and its allocation, Officers outlined a decision made by Lincolnshire Chief Executives in June that would see the money held by the County Council.  It had also been agreed that a top slice of that money would be used to create a shared baseline of both finance and demand data with any remaining monies shared equally between the number of proposals that were being developed.

Given the scale of work required the funding would not go a great way.

With no further comments, and the recommendations proposed and seconded en-bloc, on being put to the vote it was

RESOLVED that:-

(a)        the matters set out in this report, including government feedback on the interim proposals submitted by councils in Greater Lincolnshire be noted;

(b)        option two be approved as the Council’s next course of action, this being to undertake ‘Supportive Engagement’ working across all Final Proposals being developed for Greater Lincolnshire, with further assessment and decision-making opportunities for members at a future Council meeting; and

(c)        the financial and resource implications for the Council in preparing for LGR and the allocation of £50,000, which will be approved in line with financial procedure rules, and which will facilitate the initial preparation of data and evidence to enable the Council to engage effectively with the Final Proposals being worked on across Greater Lincolnshire be noted.