Publica partnership celebrates a year of achievement for shareholder councils

The Publica partnership of four local councils is celebrating a year of delivering great services, award-winning projects and renewing the way local government services are provided for our communities.

Tim Gwilliam, Leader of Forest of Dean District Council said, “We set out on this journey to help our councils save money but also protect and modernise services. We have saved nearly £27m since 2017 but the partnership approach has delivered so much more than just savings. 

“We are able to share amazing, specialist officers across our councils and work together on challenges facing our communities all the while maintaining who we are as separate councils and delivering our own priorities.”

Councillor Joe Harris, Leader of Cotswold District Council, said, “Our annual report from this year shows just how much we achieved as local councils whether that be the national award winning Crowdfund Cotswold scheme that brings a new approach to community funding, our joint response to tackling the climate emergency or innovating to deliver better statutory services to our residents.

“It is important we put our residents first. As a partnership we are delivering on the mandates set to each council by the public but in a way that enables us to share resource to make services more efficient while maintaining good standards.”

Councillor Andy Graham, Leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, said, “Not only can we work together to deliver services but our combined expertise has allowed us to respond more easily to the pandemic and cost of living crisis and we are proud of the support we have been able to provide communities. 

“Responding to the climate emergency is a priority for all the partner councils and we have made good strides this year in reducing our carbon footprint across the partnership but also delivering key schemes in our district to decarbonise buildings, improve biodiversity and protect our environment.”

Councillor Rowena Hay, Leader for Cheltenham Borough Council, said, “Our partnership allows us to be more flexible than in other areas of government to provide additional benefits to our staff and be flexible with our workforce. 

“This year we achieved Investors in People accreditation as part of our push to become a top government sector employer. Being one of the first partnerships to work in this way through Publica, we are finding our feet and showing how working together can deliver better outcomes than working alone.”