The start of this year heralded a new era of openness for Hertfordshire Growth Board.
On 26 January, all members of the Growth Board came together for our first meeting as a Joint Governance Committee. This marked a significant milestone: all Growth Board partners took the Joint Committee governance through their local democratic process last year. The move to a statutory joint committee strengthens our governance and commitment to collaborative working on the economic and growth challenges we face in Hertfordshire.
This enhanced governance builds on our commitment to collaborative place-based working laid down in our Memorandum of Understanding. The new model of leadership, decision making and accountability is set out in our Integrated Governance Framework.
Since June 2020, our Board Papers have been available to view on the Documents section of our website. This new governance means that Board Papers and Meetings are now published seven days in advance, allowing member of the public to attend and submit questions and any petitions it wants the Growth Board to consider.
Due to lockdown restrictions, all meetings are held electronically, enabling them to be recorded; you can view our first meeting as a Joint Governance Committee here. Public petitions can also now be presented to the Growth Board if they include at least 500 signatures of people living or working in Hertfordshire.
As we start 2021, the impact of COVID-19 continues to be significant but we have not allowed our important work on progressing our priorities and ambitions for good growth to be derailed in the process.
We now have a very clear set of ambitions to take forward; a Growth Board dedicated team, a strong visual presence and identity and a national platform in which to build greater dialogue and engagement.
We know that the last year was extremely challenging for our businesses and communities and that while the vaccine roll-out provides hope, the path of this pandemic is still not fully known.
Our Board Members have given a very clear steer on the priority themes for 2021, the projects they want taking forward and where they want the Board to be by December 2021. This work programme, set out in our January Board Papers, together with the new joint committee will help protect our communities and businesses from the impact of the virus upon our economy.
Patsy Dell, Director – Hertfordshire Growth, Hertfordshire Growth Board
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