Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 3.01pm. This was due to an urgent briefing meeting which had been called for local authority leaders and MPs in the Lancashire region regarding the Tier 3 COVID-19 restrictions. The meeting re-convened at 4pm with the Vice-Chair, Councillor Thomson, in the Chair.

There were no apologies. It was noted that Councillor Lewis was still required at the COVID briefing. She would join the meeting as soon as possible.

To receive declarations by Councillors of interests in respect of items on this Agenda. 

Councillors are reminded that, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011, they are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which have not already been declared in their Register of Interests. (It is a criminal offence not to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest either in the Register or at the meeting). 

Whilst not a legal requirement, in the interests of clarity and transparency (and in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9 for Lancaster City Councillors) Members should declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which they have already declared in their Register, at this point in the meeting. 

In accordance with Part B Section 2 of the Code Of Conduct, Lancaster City Councillors are required to declare the existence and nature of any other interests as defined in paragraphs 8(1) or 9(2) of the Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes of the first meeting of the Joint Committee, held on 22 July 2020, are attached for consideration.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 July 2020 were accepted as a correct record and would be signed by the Chair when the minute book was available.

Members are asked to

a)    Confirm the lead authorities on each issue are South Lakeland DC for Poverty; Lancaster CC for Climate Change and Barrow BC for Health and Wellbeing (as per minute 7).

b)    Receive verbal updates from the leads on each issue. NB Councillors Suzie Pye (SLDC) and Lee Roberts (Barrow BC) will be in attendance for this item.

It was confirmed that the lead authorities on each issue were South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) for Poverty; Lancaster City Council (LCC) for Climate Change and Barrow Borough Council (BBC) for Health and Wellbeing. The Councillors leading would each issue be Councillor Suzie Pye (SLDC); Councillor Kevin Frea (LCC) and Councillor Lee Roberts (BBC). The Chair invited them each to give an update on progress made.

Councillor Pye’s area was alleviation of poverty. She reported that she had attended a very positive and productive first meeting with Councillors Alistair Sinclair and Caroline Jackson from LCC and Councillor Derek Brook from BBC. It was apparent that all three authorities were ‘on the same page’ and that working together could enhance each authority’s individual results. Sharing information and working as a Bay Group would make the three partners stronger.

Two strands had been identified, which were short term and long term goals. Short term they had discussed helping residents out with signposting, supporting and putting in place local initiatives and reaching people before they fell into poverty. Long term goals spilled over into housing, employment and retraining. They also planned to look at data to help measure levels of poverty and discussed the stigma that surrounded poverty and often prevented people from seeking out help. This stigma was something the Poverty Truth Commission was trying to address.

There was a further meeting planned in two weeks’ time when Terms of Reference would be considered and then the group would report back further. The intention was to provide ideas and interventions which would be sustainable, not short term, ‘stop/start’ initiatives.

Councillor Frea reported on progress with the climate change emergency and the individual projects going on in the three authorities including the purchase of electric bin lorries, panel vans and pool cars at LCC. The intention would be for the public to be able to register with Co-Wheels and use the pool cars out of office hours providing a community resource. LCC had also been working with taxi proprietors to encourage and incentivise them to move to electric vehicles and would be installing three dedicated charge points for taxis. SLDC were carrying out some particularly inspiring community engagement work on climate change, having Cumbria Action for Sustainability to work with and projects such as the Ambleside to Zero Carbon (A-Z) group as well as interacting with Cumbria University and local businesses and accessing the Rural Community Energy Fund. Also, SLDC had invited match-funded bids for a pot of £20k to really get people thinking about how that money could be used to combat climate change. This had yielded some innovative ideas. In Barrow, there was a low carbon initiative funded in part by the LEP and European funding. It was aimed to make Piel Island carbon neutral. Each authority had its own action plan for the climate change emergency and one of the next steps would be to need to look at those plans together, harmonise and advance them. Councillor Frea reported that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Report of the Chief Executives. (Report published on 14 October 2020.)

Councillor Lewis took the Chair at this point.

Members considered the Prosperity and Resilience Strategy which had been submitted to government. A standard acknowledgement had been received and a full response was awaited.

Councillor Ashcroft proposed:

That -

(1)   The final version of The Bay Prosperity and Resilience Strategy be endorsed.

(2)   It be noted that the strategy, including a request for £750,000 per annum for two years, has been submitted to government with a covering letter from all three Leaders.

Councillor Archibald seconded the proposition.

The Chair asked if there was any dissent. There were no indications of dissent, therefore the proposition was carried.

Resolved:

That -

(1)   The final version of The Bay Prosperity and Resilience Strategy be endorsed.

(2)   It be noted that the strategy, including a request for £750,000 per annum for two years, has been submitted to government with a covering letter from all three Leaders.

For discussion.

There was a discussion about whether economic leads should look at aspects of finance and, if so, how that might sit with the three existing strands of poverty, climate change and health and wellbeing. Councillor Ashcroft and Councillor Lewis agreed to meet to discuss this further.

The Chair thanked Councillor Thomson for taking over chairing of the meeting whilst she had been detained in the COVID briefing.