Consultation on Mayoral Combined County Authority
We have been approached by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to bring the current consultation to your attention. The deadline is 23.50 on 13th April and the easiest way to submit a representation is online at: : https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/norfolk-and-suffolk-devolution
The Ministry has also offered to speak at any of our future meetings and events so we have taken them up on this offer and organised an information session on this topic only which will take place on MS Teams on Tuesday 18th March between 12 and 1 pm. This event is also being opened up to our neighbouring county association in Norfolk and their stakeholders as well as to Districts and the County Council here in Suffolk. It is a drop-in session and there is no need, therefore, to book. Use the link below to join the meeting on 18th March starting at 12 pm.
Passcode: Bm7vQ9Dg
This is an MS Teams meeting and there is no need to register in advance.
The Ministry have also provided posters and flyers to help parishes cascade information and encourage participation in this important consultation. Here is a link to a shared folder with these materials for use on social media, newsletters, websites and press releases. It is hoped that by attending the information session you will feel well informed about the detail of the proposed changes.
SALC Area Forums
It is timely that our area forums are happening in March/April and intentionally we have added "devolution" as a discussion item in the programme for each forum. Details available below - please ask your clerk to book your place.
Babergh Area Forum - https://www.suffolk-alc.gov.uk/areaforumbabergh
East Suffolk Area Forum - https://www.suffolk-alc.gov.uk/area-forum-east-suffolk
Mid Suffolk Area Forum - https://www.suffolk-alc.gov.uk/area-forum-mid-suffolk
West Suffolk Area Forum - https://www.suffolk-alc.gov.uk/area-forum-west-suffolk
LGR initial proposals
We are currently mapping details of the proposals being submitted to Government by county, districts and Ipswich Borough Council by the deadline of 21st March. We would encourage you to find a representative to watch these debates they will help inform you of the considerations being made.
Ipswich Borough Council - 11th March
West Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council - 18th March
East Suffolk Council and Mid Suffolk District Council - 19th March
Babergh District Council - 20th March
NALC welcomes Government clarification
Last week NALC published a news article welcoming government's clarification on parish and town councils' involvement in the development of proposals for unitary local government by local authorities. Read the full article here.
SALC involvement with county and districts
Last week we had a brief meeting with Suffolk County Council CEO and she will be joining our larger council forums this and next week. We are also inviting SCC and districts to our area forums coming up over the next few weeks to help ensure everyone is up to date with context and timelines. We will be recording our area forums in the usual way for those unable to attend. We also today (10th March) attended a briefing to parishes from Babergh/Mid Suffolk. On 27th February we took part in a town council conference hosted by East Suffolk Council which included representation from NALC.
SALC stakeholder engagement strategy
We are now able to share our stakeholder engagement strategy, co-produced by the SALC Board and the team. We are setting up our systems that enables us to give updates to the various stakeholder groups to ensure they are informed of our activities with our member councils. Use this link to view our engagement strategy plan which is being incorporated into a new 3 year business plan.
We are also now able to share other summary documentation which is informing and shaping how we approach devolution :
Key partnership mechanisms - things we have identified that worked well in other newly formed unitary areas to aid discussion.
Lessons learnt from our conversations with other areas:
Dont forget to use our devolution information page as a reference site on what is going on. Link to SALC devo page.