Last week’s meeting of our Senior Leadership Team was unusual in that we held it in Codsall together with our South Staffordshire colleagues. It was a fascinating insight into how 2 tier local authorities can work in a seamless and effective manner. Steve Winterflood, the Chief Executive at South Staffs, and his team have a grasp of local issues that is highly impressive, and we spent some time discussing their strategy and how it meshes with ours. We hear a lot about how unitary councils are the way ahead, and if one were starting from a blank sheet of paper, one probably wouldn’t design the system as it is. That said, where the county / district approach works well, it benefits the residents greatly.
I then spent the afternoon with the Shire Leaders – Leaders and CEs from Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. It was a very useful meeting in which we talked about devolution, and how we can get the best for our residents. It won’t surprise you to read that the challenges that they are all facing are variations on a theme of what we are facing. The good news is that we seem to be up with the pack on all subjects and out in front on some.
We had our first Cabinet day studying the financial proposals for the coming years, which you will hear referred to as our Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), which was fascinating and useful. There are, as we know, some difficult decisions to be made, but there is a willingness to make the necessary savings in as compassionate manner as possible, and to take advantage of the new opportunities to have greater control over our financial future.
If you are based in Stafford you might see Will Foster, the Staffordshire Dean for Wolverhampton University, around SP1. He will working from the Fourth Floor when he is in the town. This is excellent news for us, as Wolverhampton have plans which will advance the skills agenda in the county, such as a University Technical College concentrating on the electronics and ICT industries. Do say hello to him if you see him – he’s a delightful bloke.