Councils’ clarity call over Brexit

NATIONALLY we still have no clear idea what will happen after March 29 when the UK is due to leave the EU.

Regardless of that, local government is trying to prepare for the issues that may impact our local communities whatever the outcome of Brexit and it is proving rather difficult.

When it comes to emergency planning we work as part of the Local Resilience Forum.

In our case this covers Gloucestershire and is co-ordinated by the police but includes all local councils as well as all emergency services, all parts of the NHS and the Environment Agency.

It also gives access to many other agencies that may be involved depending on the emergency being dealt with.

I recently attended a meeting of South West Councils.

There was a session on preparing for Brexit and it was clear many councils shared the same concerns about the sheer lack of coherent information on what we are supposed to be preparing for.

This triggered a letter on behalf of all the councils, with cross party support, to Communities Secretary James Brokenshire, raising a number of concerns.

As the Brexit date gets closer, the government have been issuing lots of advice.

Unfortunately each department has been issuing separate advice and sending it to different people.

Councils are seeking specific advice on how they are expected to prepare for different Brexit scenarios and that this advice should be coordinated across government departments.

The Government has been urged to make clear when and how they will be properly funding the Local Resilience Forums and local government more widely. It will be interesting to see what answers we get to the letter.

Clearly this doesn’t just impact local councils as the closer we get to the Brexit deadline the more difficult it is for everyone to plan for the future.