West Sussex County Council: developing a strong narrative

West Sussex County Council, in conjunction with 25 member authorities- has established seven key work streams to reflect their devolved powers and is framing their narrative around them. This case study forms part of our devolution toolkit.

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West Sussex County Council, part of Three Southern Counties (3SC), is developing a strong narrative as part of its devolution bid, focused on boosting productivity and economic growth across West Sussex, East Sussex and Surrey.

The county council, in conjunction with 25 member authorities - including county, district and borough councils - has established seven key work streams to reflect the devolved powers they have bid for. These are: housing and planning, infrastructure, transport, skills, fiscal devolution and investment, governance and public service transformation. The combined authority is focusing its regional narrative on these seven thematic areas.

Since 2015, the partners of the combined authority have been meeting regularly to discuss the devolution bid and narrative. With almost 50 partners making up the combined authority, it's important to have representatives from each of these organisations in attendance enabling all voices to be heard and firm progress made. The authority is keen to promote integrated, cross-organisational working to bring partners together.

3SC is made up of three county councils, 23 district and borough councils, three local enterprise partnerships, 12 clinical commissioning groups, two police forces, two police and crime commissioners, one combined fire authority, South Downs National Park and other public sector services.

As part of its narrative for the three counties, the combined authority is working to develop its regional infrastructure - including improving road and rail networks. It recognises this is key to ensuring the 121,000-plus existing businesses - including big names such as Rolls Royce, Siemens, Ricardo and McClaren Cars - continue to operate in the region. As a result, this will improve investment in the area, boost the economy and increase the skills base of the workforce.

The combined authority has a communications group which is communicating this narrative with residents and businesses, to help promote the region as a place to live and do business. This is in the developmental stage at the moment and involves talking to residents and businesses both face-to-face and online to find out their views and secure buy-in, as well as distributing member briefings.

Top tips for developing a strong narrative

1. Ensure all organisations involved in the combined authority meet regularly to develop the narrative so all voices are heard

2. Set up a communications working group to establish the channels to communicate your narrative

3. Find out the views of local residents and businesses - what do they want from devolution?