GLOUCESTERSHIRE has submitted a bid to government to take greater control of its public services through devolution.

A statement of intent document, We are Gloucestershire was sent to ministers last week, detailing the counties desires as part of the bill of devolution.

Devolution would give the county responsibility for public services. It would have more say over social care and health spending, transport networks, business rates, education and infrastructure.

The bid was put together by Gloucestershire County Council, the six district councils, GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the police and crime commissioner (PCC) and NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The statement of intent pulls out five areas that the partners would like to focus on and take more responsibility for:

  • Economy, skills and employment – devolved accountability and budgets to enable countywide economic planning to be driven by GFirst LEP
  • Planning, transport and infrastructure – simplified decision making for strategic planning, accelerated delivery of housing and investments into better transport links
  • Health and social care – fully delegated authority for all health care budgets, fully integrated health and social care and a single vision for health and wellbeing for the county
  • Community safety – community-based budgets to focus support where needed, joined up interventions on domestic violence, sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation, more investment in prevention and diversion from crime
  • Collective decision making and accountability – pooling together public sector funding to get the most from spending power and a single point of accountability

Cllr Geoff Wheeler, leader of Stroud District Council, said: “There is a clear case for bringing together strategic decisions in the county by all public bodies so that we can link economic progress with health and social reform.”

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “Gloucestershire is ready for devolution and our submission to the government makes that very clear. Working together we can get a better deal for local people by making services really work for communities and by driving our economy forward.

“We will be making our case to ministers in the strongest way possible because this is the right thing to do for Gloucestershire.”

Dr Diane Savory OBE DL, chairman of GFirst LEP, said: “I wholeheartedly support devolution of central Government powers to Gloucestershire. To fully achieve the ambitions of the GFirst LEP Strategic Economic Plan, it’s imperative that Gloucestershire has devolved accountability and budgets for the key levers of the local economy to enable county-wide economic growth and planning to be driven by GFirst LEP.

“We already have an excellent reputation with central Government, which will help to simplify decision making, and make sure planned growth happens when and where it should. Gloucestershire should be at the forefront of showing how successful devolution can be.”

The full bid is available to see at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/devolution.