Agenda item

(To receive a report by Nigel West, Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer, which invites the Board to consider the Leader of the Council's decision to terminate the Council's membership of the Local Government Association)

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer, which invited the Board to consider the Leader of the Council's decision to terminate the Council's membership of the Local Government Association (LGA).

Members were advised that in March 2019, the Leader of the Council gave notice of the Council's intention to leave the LGA. If nothing intervenes to alter this course of action, it would take effect on 1 April 2020.

The decision to serve notice was taken on the basis of concerns that the Council was not receiving full value for its annual subscriptions, particularly in relation to the fairer funding campaign.

The Chairman invited the Leader of the Council to make a statement expressing his views on what extent the Council needed the support of  the LGA, particularly with the current volatility of local government and the government's views on fairer funding and devolution.

The Leader of the Council informed Members that fairer funding and social care funding had been the main reasons for serving notice on the LGA, as it was believed that the LGA was not doing enough to lobby for fairer funding for rural communities. There had been an expectation that issues about fairer funding and social care funding would have been resolved the previous year.

Members were advised that withdrawing as a member of the LGA would mean that the Council would also withdraw from the County Council Network, whom had been effective in lobbying for these issues.

The Leader expressed his preferred view that the Council should continue to serve notice to terminate the Council's membership of the LGA as it was important that the Council continued to put pressure on the LGA to lobby for all councils equally.

The Board considered the three options presented in the report:

A)                 The Leader could take no further action, which would mean the Council would leave the LGA with effect from 1^st  April 2020.

B)                 The Leader could withdraw the notice, which would mean the Council would continue its membership of the LGA.

C)                 The Leader could withdraw the notice and replace it with a further 12 months' notice to terminate membership of the LGA, which would mean the Council could leave the LGA on 1^st  April 2021.

Members discussed the report and the following points were noted:

·       It was clarified that there were only a small number of councils who were not Members of the LGA. Leicestershire County Council held a similar view to that of Lincolnshire.

·       A range of benefits were open to the Council as a member of the LGA. Members had taken advantage of the training courses offered, attended the annual conference and had recently received a fully funded peer review.

·       The Board recognised the need for further support with the fairer funding campaign.

·       It was suggested that in times of change in Local Government, it would be more beneficial to remain a member of the LGA.

The Board agreed to recommend Option C to the Leader of the Council to enable the Council to continue to receive the benefits from membership of the LGA and be part of a collective force when lobbying government, such as for fairer funding. However, the Board highlighted the reduced impact from continually serving notice to terminate membership of the LGA and suggested that this should be the final year for serving a 12 months' notice period.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Board considered the background to the decision to serve notice of termination of the Council's membership of the Local Government Association;

2.    That the Board support the Leader of the Council in withdrawing the notice and replacing it with a further 12 months' notice to terminate membership of the LGA, which would mean the Council could leave the LGA on 1^st April 2021.