The Programme Board met again this week and the team is really starting to make progress on some of the key issues.
They were joined by Paul Helsby and Sharon Richardson who were recently programme lead officers overseeing the creation of unitary councils in Northamptonshire. Having been through this process already, they are able to provide invaluable insight into the task ahead.
Paul gave a short presentation on the development of the programme plan and the creation of a blueprint for the new shadow authorities to take forward once they are established. Board members thought it might be useful to share with you one of the slides. Whilst quite technical, we hope it gives you some idea of the key tasks to be completed over the coming months as well as the associated timescales. We’ll look to distil the points of the slide into our programme and our plans.
<<Take a look at the route to blueprint slide>>
Encouraging economic growth to our area is a key aim of the LGR process. Therefore, we’ve begun a piece of work aimed at bringing together details of all the projects currently ongoing in the county such as Borderlands and Towns Deal, as well as information on the opportunities which could arise in the future from government schemes and through devolved powers. It was agreed that a facilitated workshop would be useful to gather all the necessary ideas and information from those of you who are experts in this field, so do look out for an invite in the coming weeks.
The board also felt it was important that our work on LGR has a consistent identity which differed from that of each individual council. We therefore tasked the communications group and our internal graphic design teams to come up with a simple design which could be used in newsletters, presentations and other material. Provided with a number of ideas, the board settled on a preferred design which you can see at the top of this newsletter.
Finally, the board were also informed that Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet meets today (Thursday 23 September) to consider whether to issue a claim for judicial review against the decision of the Secretary of State to implement the proposal for two new unitary authorities in Cumbria.
If you have any questions, please email corporate.communications@cumbria.gov.uk
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