Being the Leader of a local authority gives the opportunity to meet with other Leaders, which is interesting as all authorities have similar issues. The County Councils are the primary authority having responsibility for Highways, Social Care, and other areas. Gloucester as a District authority is responsible for waste collections, recycling, housing services, open space management, planning and much more.

The challenges are the same. How to deliver a range of statutory services which are essential, and then consider non-statutory services which residents value, with the funding available. There are many occasions when issues must be considered which have a cross county impact, and the district leaders come together with others including the County Council, GFirst LEP, the Police and Health Authorities to consider the appropriate course of action. This might be to consider schemes such as mass transit or economic development, at which times, sometimes frighteningly large sums of money have to be considered and committed.

Working together to find solutions

This month will see the Local Government Association Annual General Meeting, to be held in Harrogate. Meetings involving associated bodies on which Gloucester is represented will also be taking place. There will be ample opportunities to meet with senior figures from these organisations and other contemporaries, and discuss the challenges we are facing as local government bodies. There are also Ministers from Westminster who are there to listen to those challenges and collectively we work together to find solutions.

I have previously discussed some of those issues. The biggest today is climate change and working together to improve overall outcomes. This means more effectiveness across the entire local government estate, including directives from central government. The arm of delivery is best at the local level, but through working together to make the differences needed.

So you see the golden thread throughout this article; talking about service delivery, economic development, climate change and associated issues. These are themes which connect us all both in terms of challenge and delivery. The importance is in working together to deliver across entire areas on behalf of all.