SLCC News & Events

Larger Councils' Network Launched

Published 1st June 2010

At the Larger Councils Conference in Nottingham in April the Society launched its new Larger Councils Network which will be part of the services offered by the Institute of Local Council Management. Building on the experience of the former 41 Group of Best Value Councils, it seeks to provide networking and advice and information sharing opportunities for the chief officers to the largest councils. It will be complementary to the work of the new RFO’s Forum, which is being coordinated by the new National Financial Advisor, Rod Latham (slccfinance@googlemail.com) .


Membership of the Network is open to the chief officers to any Band C Council (with an annual budget in excess of £1M) or those who feel their Councils are likely to reach that level in the near future. The Network is being coordinated by the Larger Councils Champion, Graham Hunt, Chief Executive Officer at Newbury Town Council (chiefexec@newbury.gov.uk), who explained: “Networking opportunities are one of the key benefits of Society membership and we want to develop those opportunities further to meet the specific needs of clerks to the largest councils who employ many staff and deliver a wide range of services. However, we are not an exclusive group and any chief officer who feels he or she can benefit from membership is welcome to join us.” 53 Councils’ Chief Officers have joined the network so far by agreeing to share full details of their professional background and qualifications, their Council’s financial and service data, together with details of any current initiatives likely to be of wider interest. They have also undertaken to ensure timely responses to any requests for information from Network members. The data already provided confirms the very wide range of skills and professional experience and innovative projects available as a resource within our sector.
Graham is being supported in managing the network by an executive group, who came forward at Nottingham, comprising:

Lance Allan (Trowbridge TC),Helen Ball (Shrewsbury TC), Miggy Bailey (Keighley TC), Neil Hitch (Petersfield TC), James Parker (Bishops Stortford TC), Malcolm White (Saffron Walden TC), and Peter Young (Lichfield City Council).

Graham and the executive group would welcome any suggestions on future topics to be covered, or indeed anything of relevance to the smooth running of the Network.

The executive group will also be advised by SLCC Branch Development Officer, Richard Walden (who was previously Secretary to the former 41 Group), National External Affairs Officer, Sam Shippen ILCM Manger, Bruce Poole and NALC Larger Councils Officer, Chris Borg, who will ensure that the activities of the Network are coordinated with other initiatives within the sector.

The executive group held its first meeting in mid May and agreed to a set of informal terms of reference (full details of which can be seen on the Society’s website www.slcc.co.uk) which include for 2 or 3 meetings a year in addition to the Larger Councils Conference, whose programme the Network will in future help plan. These meetings will be preceded by a dinner an overnight stay in an hotel the night before to help engender maximum networking opportunities. The first meeting will be held in a new conference centre at Dunstable, Bedfordshire (just off Junction 11 of the M1) on Friday 1st October where Town Clerk, David Ashlee, will be giving a presentation on the processes used by his Council in developing its Corporate Plan. David will then be posing key questions arising from that process which members will discuss in workshop sessions. This first meeting will also confirm the working arrangements for the network and will be preceded by a dinner in local hotel.

If you have not yet joined the Network, you can do so by supplying the information requested in the survey form which can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XD78NZ3.
 
The work of the Network is being supported by a new E-Forum moderated by Peter Young (Peter.Young@lichfield.gov.uk) which is open to all and combines the members of the former SLCC Larger Councils E Group and the private TPC Best Value E Group. It is hoped that many members of the new E Group will feel able to join the Network as their careers progress. To join this egroup just email Peter at the above address and he will send you an invitation to join.
As the Network develops it is certain that many of the issues it covers will be of wider interest to other members of the local councils managers profession, so regular reports on its deliberations will be included in future editions of The Clerk, the Branch Newsletter and on the SLCC website.