Agenda item

To consider the current position in respect of the Gloucestershire Devolution Project.   

43.1           The report of the Chief Executive, circulated at Pages No. 39-53, provided an update on the progress of Gloucestershire’s devolution bid since its submission on 4 September 2015 and set out the next steps. Members were asked to note the current position in respect of the Gloucestershire Devolution Project.

43.2           The Chief Executive indicated that the bid document had been circulated to all Members of the Council for information shortly after its submission. There were two main areas upon which the Gloucestershire bid was based: economic growth and public sector reform. Within each of those areas there were two sub-workstream areas: Economic Growth - planning, transport and infrastructure (including housing growth) and business growth and skills development; and Public Sector Reform – healthcare commissioning and community safety. In addition, the bid included a ‘governance’ workstream which made a proposal to establish a Combined Authority for Gloucestershire.

43.3           Since submission, detailed conversations had been held with lead civil servants to develop the respective workstreams to allow an agreement with Government to be produced. The bid, as submitted, was welcomed by the Government and the Gloucestershire Partnership had initially been advised that it may be possible for a devolution deal to be agreed by Government for announcement in late November or early December 2015. However, this would be subject to the outcome of a ‘Ministerial Challenge’ meeting with the Secretary of State for local Government. That meeting had been held on 11 November 2015 and had involved a small group of representatives from the County including the Leader of the County Council, the Leader of Stroud District Council, both the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership and Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Chief Executive. The meeting had been positive and the Secretary of State had been supportive of the proposals for business growth and skills, health commissioning and community safety. However, he had requested that further work be undertaken on the planning and housing elements of the planning, transport and infrastructure workstream and on the governance workstream. The lead civil servant for the Gloucestershire bid had indicated that it may be possible to conclude the agreement for Gloucestershire in January 2016 subject to the additional work being agreed.

43.4           In terms of the next steps for the bid, work was underway to address the two outstanding areas identified by the Secretary of State and a draft version of the bid would be considered by Leadership Gloucestershire on 9 December 2015. Those amendments would then be discussed with the civil servants and, once finalised, the bid proposals would be included in the draft devolution agreement to be signed off by the Secretary of State. Once drafted, the agreement would need to be approved by all partners prior to being announced by the Government and, as part of that process, the final draft documentation would be presented to Tewkesbury Borough Council, and other partner Councils and Boards, for approval in the New Year. In respect of the Combined Authority, a formal governance review, to include public consultation, would be required and this was planned for 2016. The detailed timescale for this would need to be considered by Leadership Gloucestershire at its meeting on 9 December; this would need to be carefully thought through due to the fact that a number of the partner Councils had elections in May 2016 which would have an impact.

43.5           During the discussion which ensued, a Member expressed the view that the Devolution Bill seemed to be changing over time and she questioned whether it was likely that the County would have an Elected Mayor imposed upon it as part of its devolution agreement. In response, the Chief Executive indicated that there were changes proposed to the Bill but at the moment there was no offer from Gloucestershire for an Elected Mayor and the Secretary of State had indicated that, whilst an Elected Mayor was his favoured model, it was unlikely he would force Gloucestershire to have one. There was certainly no change to the County’s position that it did not want an Elected Mayor. In terms of public consultation, a Member questioned what form it would take and whether it would include both the public and Parishes. In addition, she noted that the Secretary of State wanted to see a larger number of homes built in Gloucestershire and she questioned how this would equate to the Joint Core Strategy and whether any such change would have to be considered by the Council before becoming part of the devolution bid.  In response, the Chief Executive indicated that he was unsure at the moment exactly how the consultation would work but the details would be drawn up as part of the governance review. The Council was already undertaking some local engagement with Parishes and the voluntary sector etc. In respect of housing, the Secretary of State would like to see additional development but the fact was that development in Gloucestershire, as far as the strategic plans were concerned, had to be evidence based and this had been made clear to Government. The only additional development that was being considered was that which might be brought forward on public sector land and those would be windfall sites. It was known that there were a number of small sites like this and they would still be subject to normal planning decisions. The Joint Core Strategy would not be affected by the devolution bid.  

43.6           Accordingly, it was

                  RESOLVED          That the current position of the Gloucestershire Devolution                                 Project be NOTED.