Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors J. Clarke, R. Lambert and M. Marshall.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

Councillors K. May, J. Robinson and S. Webb all declared other disclosable interests in Minute Item no. 105/24 – Local Government Reorganisation - Interim Plan Proposals for Worcestershire – Bromsgrove - in their capacity as Worcestershire County Councillors. 

Councillor K. Taylor declared an other disclosable interest in Minute Item no. 105/24 – Local Government Reorganisation – Interim Plan Proposals for Worcestershire – Bromsgrove - in his capacity as both a Worcestershire County Councillor and as Chairman of the Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority.

They all remained present during consideration of this item and took part in both the debate and voted thereon.

The minutes of the meeting of Council held on 19^th February 2025 were submitted.

Reference was made to the discussions in respect of the Medium Term Financial Plan 2025/26 to 2027/28, which had occurred during that meeting.  A request was made for clarification to be provided that the Liberal Democrat group had sought to submit an alternative budget for consideration but had not been able to get this over the line in time for the meeting.

RESOLVED that subject to the amendment detailed in the preamble above, the minutes of the Council meeting held on 19^th February 2025 be approved as a true and correct record.

Council is asked to note that an addendum to this report will be issued as early as possible before the extraordinary Council meeting setting out the conclusions reached following the discussions taking place through the Worcestershire Leaders Board together with a further appendix (Appendix 5). 

The Leader of the Council presented a report concerning Local Government Reorganisation and Devolution in terms of the Interim Plan Proposals for Worcestershire.

Members were informed that on the 5^th February 2025, Jim McMahon MP, the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, wrote to the Leaders of the six District Councils and the County Council in Worcestershire setting out the Government’s vision for local government and the transfer of power out of Westminster through devolution.  The letter invited the Worcestershire authorities to work together to formulate and submit an interim plan for a single tier of local government, in line with the guidance appended to the letter, on or before 21^st March 2025, with an expectation that a full proposal would be submitted by 28^th November 2025.

The Leader expressed regret that the Council was having to consider this matter.  However, the Leader recognised that there was a need for the Council to positively engage with the process to ensure the very best outcomes for the residents of Bromsgrove District.

With this in mind, discussions had been taking place between the Leader and the other Worcestershire Council Leaders, supported by the Chief Executives from all seven Worcestershire Councils through the Worcestershire Leaders Board.   The focus had been to prepare the draft interim plan that had been provided for Members’ consideration at the Council meeting in Appendix 5 to the report, which set out draft proposals covering the County as a whole.  This was in line with the Government’s expectation that this draft interim plan would then be subject to agreement by each of the Councils in Worcestershire and form the basis of the Worcestershire interim submission.

Council was asked to note that at this stage, the authority did not have enough information to make a determination on the most appropriate structure one way or the other. This was reinforced by the District S151 Officers’ Statement in Appendix 5 to the report.   However, it was clear that in order to make a final proposal, there was a plethora of information and data that the Council would need to consider and validate before a final submission could be considered and determined in November 2025.  It was for this reason, that the interim proposal did not favour one model above another.

In this context, the Leader proposed that, having considered the information provided in the report, the third option listed at recommendation 2 of the report should be endorsed, alongside recommendation 3 and a fourth recommendation that had been proposed for Members’ consideration in an addendum to the report that had been published in a supplementary pack for the meeting.

These recommendations were proposed by Councillor K. May and seconded by Councillor S. Baxter.

In considering this matter, Members noted that there were three options available:

·             Option 1 – One Unitary Authority for the whole of Worcestershire.

·             Option 2 – Two Unitary Authorities, one for North Worcestershire, covering Bromsgrove District, Redditch Borough and Wyre Forest District and one for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105\24

There was no urgent business for consideration on this occasion.