Agenda item

The Non-Metropolitan Commission, chaired by Sir John Peace, launched its final report on 5 March 2015. It made seven recommendations for reform around prosperity, infrastructure and governance that a new Government can take and implement early in its term. A report was considered on this at the LGA Executive on 5 March 2015.

Lady Cobham addressed the Board. She stated that the commission had deliberately confined itself to just seven recommendations, which were as applicable to cities as to the non-metropolitan areas to give the next government clear targets to aim at. In this regard, she welcomed the Board’s role in helping to bring the recommendations to fruition. She commended the report as a useful contribution to local governance in 2020 and was particularly keen to show how the report’s recommendations would be progressed. The Chairman thanked Lady Cobham for her contribution and she agreed to stay in touch with the LGA in order to hear about progress with delivering this report.

Board members raised the following points in the discussion that followed:

·         The report was very concise and clear and this provided a foundation for  collaboration in a number of areas, including infrastructure, delivering economic growth and digital connectivity. It must be used to shape the future.

·         We needed to highlight that there are currently 124 “pots of money” and this should be streamlined.

·         It was important that skills and vocational training should be highlighted and that the workforce should be built for the future. This was a top priority. In addition, with a growing population, the health element was key.

·         Emphasis should be made towards apprenticeship and how LEP’s can support SME’s. These were very important across Councils.

·         The recommendations on Housing were important and should not be centrally imposed but based on local needs. The housing requirement cannot be met under current rules.

·         The transport and digital recommendations were welcomed as being essential, amongst other things, for the growth of skills and employment.

·         All the recommendations were linked and did not stand alone and should be linked to the Finance Commission report.

Decision

The Board noted the report.