Partners agree way forward
More than 150 delegates gathered in Warwick this week to forge a bold agreement aimed at improving the quality of life for all of Warwickshire’s residents.
The Local Area Agreement will transform public services through unprecedented levels of co-operation and partnership, the delegates were told.
All of Warwickshire’s local authorities, including county, district and parish councils, have signalled their commitment to the agreement – together with the police, health, voluntary and business sectors.
The final version will eventually be submitted to the Government Office of the West Midlands. This week’s conference at Warwick’s Hilton Hotel began the process of finalising the content.
The agreement will tackle every issue from affordable housing to fear of crime, from job creation to the environment – and will start to bring about major improvements in the delivery of public services to local people from April next year.
A whole range of improvement targets are set in six key areas or ‘blocks’: children and young people, safer communities, stronger communities, healthier communities and older people, economic development and enterprise, environment and sustainability.
Organised by Warwickshire County Council, the conference was the second such ‘partnership summit’ to draw together key organisations from throughout the county. Sir Brian Follett, Chair of the LAA Steering Group, opened the proceedings.
“There has been real concern about a genuine disconnection between those who govern and those who are governed,” he said. “The Local Area Agreement is a device intended to make public services truly work together and hopefully reconnect.”
Warwickshire County Council Chief Executive Jim Graham, in his opening remarks, told delegates: “This partnership needs to be simple and intelligible to ordinary people, it needs to deliver better services, and it needs to be flexible enough to change over time.”