Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Surrey County Council’s Chief Executive, David McNulty and a member of his Policy team on proposals for devolution.

The Committee received a presentation from David McNulty, Chief Executive of Surrey County Council and Robert Cayzer, SCC Senior Policy Manager on the Three Southern Counties (3SC) proposals for devolution.

He explained that the 3SC (East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey) authorities were pursuing a devolution deal with government to improve outcomes for local residents and businesses through economic growth, enhanced productivity and a transformation in public service delivery. The 3SC were taking advantage of the government’s commitment to devolving powers and resources to a local level, allowing authorities to make collective decisions about key services affecting the whole area.

Mr McNulty said that the economy of the 3SC had a combined GVA (Gross Value Added) of £74 billion, bigger than Wales or Greater Manchester, making a significant net contribution to the national exchequer. However, the area’s future economic performance, and the quality of life of local residents, was at risk because of creaking infrastructure and the challenges that businesses faced in recruiting and retaining staff.

The 3SC substantive devolution proposition comprised 6 workstreams: infrastructure; housing and planning; skills; public service transformation; fiscal devolution; and governance.

The 3SC was seeking a devolution deal with government, to enable it to grow its contribution to the national economy by:

• Agreeing a long-term infrastructure strategy to improve capacity on the rail and road networks and develop the digital infrastructure;
• Action to accelerate housebuilding and improve the range of housing available;
• Greater engagement with business, education and others to ensure employers have access to the skills they need and address barriers to employment for people with lower skills;
• Public service transformation to meet the needs of residents at less cost.

Central to its proposition was a commitment to greater collaboration across the 3SC, enabling rapid progress on infrastructure improvements, house building, skills development and public service transformation.

To ensure the new governance arrangements were fit for purpose, the 3SC planned to:

• Establish a mechanism for collective binding decision making across the 3SC area;
• Create a clear point of accountability for the local delivery of their devolution deal.

Mr McNulty also referred to plans for ‘double devolution’, which could be progressed with or without the 3SC proposals. This would be progressed by way of discussions between the 3 Counties and 23 boroughs and districts to decide what powers can be devolved from County level to borough and district level. The boroughs and districts would be the place leaders for these discussions so, ultimately, the result of ‘double devolution’ would look different in different parts of the County. He said that the driver for the decisions on ‘double devolution’ would be, ‘can we demonstrate better value for residents by doing things a different way’.

Mr McNulty concluded by saying that the 3SC was confident that, if it agreed a devolution deal on this basis, in five years’ time it would have delivered:

• Accelerated housing delivery to 2020 to increase the supply of housing in the 3SC area;
• A firm programme for improving crucial transport corridors;
• A reduction in hard to fill vacancies and skills gaps;
• A proven shift to preventative activity with a consequential reduction in costs.

Members of the Committee and other councillors in attendance asked questions of Mr McNulty on his presentation.

The Chairman thanked Mr McNulty for his presentation and said that the Council looked forward to working with the 3SC on double devolution.

Resolved to note the presentation on The Three Southern Counties proposals for devolution.