Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S Armstrong, J Bagwell, O Brown, J Butt, S Carr-Brown, J Challinor, B Chick, J Clements, D Flagg, M Howell, C Matthews, J Salmon, V Slade, M Tarling, and T Trent.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest submitted on this occasion.

On 16 December, Government released its Devolution White Paper  which clearly sets out its ambition for universal coverage of Strategic Authorities in England, with or without mayors, “to ensure citizens benefit from devolution and to ensure the effective running of public services.” This will have implications for BCP Council and its residents now and into the future.

Government is seeking urgent responses from Councils as to whether they want to join its Priority Programme, which is a pathway to the creation of Strategic Authorities, with mayoral elections in May 2026. Government is giving councils the opportunity to put forward their preferred devolution option either as part of this priority programme or at a later stage. It has made it clear that those councils unable to reach a clear decision on devolution that satisfies the terms of the government’s white paper within an undefined reasonable time frame will be subject to a ministerial directive.

The Council has several options to consider.  Following the recommendation from Overview and Scrutiny Board on 6 January 2024, this report builds on previous reports and presentations to members to provide evidence and data on each option to enable Council to have an informed debate and indicate the preferred way forward on devolution. 

A report and paper containing supplementary information was presented to Council, copies of which had been circulated to each Member and copies of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Council was advised that the recommendations within the report would be taken separately with recommendation 1 (whether BCP Council should apply to participate in the Priority Programme) being discussed, debated and voted on prior to moving to recommendation 2 (what the preferred geography should be).

Council was informed that on 16 December 2024 Government had released its Devolution White Paper  which clearly sets out its ambition for universal coverage of Strategic Authorities in England, with or without mayors, “to ensure citizens benefit from devolution and to ensure the effective running of public services.”

Council was advised that this will have implications for BCP Council and its residents now and into the future.

Council was informed that Government was seeking urgent responses from Councils as to whether they want to join its Priority Programme, which is a pathway to the creation of Strategic Authorities, with mayoral elections in May 2026, and that Government is giving councils the opportunity to put forward their preferred devolution option either as part of this priority programme or at a later stage.

Further to this Council was advised that it has made it clear that those councils unable to reach a clear decision on devolution that satisfies the terms of the government’s white paper within an undefined reasonable time frame will be subject to a ministerial directive.

In relation to this Council was informed that the Council has several options to consider, and that following the recommendation from Overview and Scrutiny Board on 6 January 2024, this report builds on previous reports and presentations to members to provide evidence and data on each option to enable Council to have an informed debate and indicate the preferred way forward on devolution.

In opening the debate the Leader of the Council, Councillor Mille Earl addressed Council highlighting the urgent nature of responding to the government in respect of the priority programme,  further to this the Leader advised that the preferred approach would have been for BCP Council to submit a single-authority proposal but that advice from MHCLG was that the government would not support this approach and that the population criteria of 1.5m was clear.

In relation to this, the Leader stressed the importance of being part of the discussions around the strategic authorities at inception and proposed that BCP Council apply to participate in the Priority Programme, this proposal was seconded by Councillor Andy Martin.

Comprehensive discussion and debate then took place both in support and against the proposal with the following areas of discussion being raised: -

-       Agreement by some members that the preferred model would have been as a single authority but that clear guidance had been received from government that this wasn’t an option.

-       Support from some members that staying out of the priority programme was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The deadline for questions to be submitted to the Monitoring Officer is 7 January 2025.

Council was advised that there had been no questions submitted from Councillors on this occasion.