Thursday 30 November 2023

County Councils Work Together

 Four county councils along the Welsh Marches have agreed to work together to secure funding support from both the UK and Welsh governments.  They'll also be looking for more investment in the region and exploring ideas for new large projects that will benefit the whole region.

The County Councils are Powys, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire and Shropshire.  They all have similarities, being mainly rural areas, and I think it's good to see collaboration between the authorities instead of them each competing for funding individually against each other.

The common issues they all have include transport, skills and housing, energy, climate change, tourism, and internet connectivity.  Between them, the four authorities have a population of around 750,000.  For comparison, that's more than Manchester (553,000), but less than Birmingham (1.15 million) and both those cities have mayors who are able to act on the behalf of all their populations, so it should be a good thing for the Marches Forward Partnership to speak with one voice to government, too.

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