The Independent Group Annual Report 2024

The ascent of Independents and Green parties in the recent local elections is nothing short of breathtaking. Independents with Residents Associations gained 104 members and Greens increased by 74 members. In total, including the smaller parties, the group saw 464 members elected, a gain of 184 seats, on a par with Labour and leaving the Conservatives reeling with a loss of 474 seats.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru retained their Police and Crime Commissioner seat in Dyfed- Powys. In Solihull, history was made by the Metropolitan Borough Council welcoming its first ever Muslim Mayor, Green Party Councillor Shahin Ashraf! Similarly, in Bristol the Greens ended Labour’s historic rule over the City Council taking 34 seats in the new committee system. Congratulations also to all in Castle Point Borough Council in Essex with 39 Councillors, under Dave Blackwell and Deputy Warren Gibson, where Independents won every single seat!

This does not happen by accident! Year on year, our LGA Independent Group and the supporting political parties have been providing our members with training, mentoring and advice, ensuring our councillors are inspired, skilled and well informed. The results are amazing.

Close on fifty councils are already led by Independent, Green and Plaid Cymru councillors. Many more are successful in administration or leading in opposition, bringing improvements for residents.

Our fantastic member peers are hard at work, engaging with leaders, portfolio holders and newly-elected councillors, responding to peer mentoring requests and providing post-electoral support in negotiating new council administrations and coalitions. The Independent Group Annual Report 2023/24 5

Following our membership elections last June, the Independent Group elected Marianne Overton MBE (Independent, Lincolnshire County Council and North Kesteven District Council) as Independent Group Leader, Councillor Caroline Jackson (Green, Lancaster City Council) as Deputy Leader and Councillor Andrew Cooper (Green, Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council) as Group Treasurer. Thank you to both for your excellent contributions to the Executive and the wider group, with their steadfast support and help. Following a full interview process, Councillor Adam Paynter (Independent – Cornwall) was appointed as our National Lead Peer, responsible with our regional lead peers and member peers, for supporting our councils and councillors to achieve the best outcomes for residents. Giving Peer Support

The LGA Independent Group currently has 36 active peers, experienced and trained to support colleagues. I would like to thank former councillors Helen Grant, Judy Jennings, Paul Cullen, Phelim Mac Cafferty, Paul Woodhead and Peter Southgate for their service. We welcome two new additions to the team: Councillors Jon Hubbard and Kevin Foster, who I know will make a valuable addition to our vast network of peer talent! We are always welcoming new members to become peers, especially those from BAME backgrounds or LGBTQ+.

Last July we received 44 applications to join the various LGA Policy Boards and supporting committees/working groups – a record number! Together, LGA policy boards are responsible for developing policies in their respective areas and campaigns, across every aspect of local government activity. My sincere thanks to our members and substitutes for getting involved and playing a key role in the development of policy within the LGA. Early in the year, we held a brilliant weekender to shape our shared priorities and goals as a foundation for the year, supplemented by our online ’think tanks’ for everyone to contribute. Thanks to Councillor Jon Hubbard, for setting up our newly designed online version for our members to share ideas and develop policy positions within the Group, shadowing the work of each LGA board. Thanks to our Board Members who have made significant changes this year to policy, notably on planning, tackling climate change and the ‘right to buy’. They are supported by members like you through the ‘think tanks’, bringing ideas and experience. If you have not yet signed up to a think tank, please get in touch and start contributing! Thanks also to our council leaders, whose fortnightly online meetings help shape our initiatives and strengthen our responses to Government, especially this year on funding, asylum seekers and the so-called ‘devolution’ deals. Thanks also to our council leaders for their support in Parliament when I spoke on funding for flood defence in rural areas – sharing a platform with Liz Truss MP.

The Next Generation Cohort 2023/24 was our largest ever with 16 ambitious councillors from different-sized authorities, working together to become tomorrow’s ‘next generation’ of local leaders. We welcomed expert speakers in their field such as Professor Colin Copus, RADA and current council leaders. Over a series of three weekends at Warwick Conferences, individuals focus on personal and political leadership, communication and media skills, which they can take back and use in their day-to-day council work. The success of this programme can be seen in many current council leaders, for example, 22/23 graduate Councillor Rachel Millward who now leads Wealden District Council! Together with fortnightly council leaders’ meetings online, Leadership weekends and Leadership essentials”, our members continue to shine.

It was great to listen and to support our members at the Welsh Local Government Association Conference in Lladudno, the Green Party Conference in Brighton and the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference in Caenarfon. Of the 22 Welsh Unitary Councils, I was delighted to see the successes from Plaid Cymru leaders including Councillor Darren Price of Carmarthenshire, Dyfrig Siencyn of Cyngor Gwynedd, Brian Davies of Ceredigion, Charlie McCoubrey of Conwy and Independent leaders Councillor Stephen Hunt of Neath Port Talbot, Mark Pritchard of Wrexham, Llinos Medi of the Isle of Anglesey and Geraint Thomas of Merthyr Tydfill. I also thanked our Plaid Cymru Vice Presidents Lord Wigley, Ben Lake MP and Liz Saville-Roberts MP. Welsh Local Government is now facing enormous budget pressure of £750m in the 2024-25 financial year, with gaps of between £340m - £490m even after increased council tax. It was a pleasure to attend the Green Party Conference in Brighton alongside colleagues including Councillor Johnny Denis, Chair of the Association of Green Councillors, Carla Denyer, Co-leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas MP and our two Green Vice Presidents, Baronesses Natalie Bennett and Jenny Jones. We discussed a socially just transition to net zero through local government and heard about the great work of Green Party councillors. Over 300 councils are explicitly committed to ‘net zero’ and have reflected this in their business plans, funding and staffing, with or without local government support! The LGA has also declared a climate emergency, offering a wide range of resources and tools to help local authorities combat the negative impacts of climate change. As the elected spokesperson of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions for climate and energy, I was able to showcase your work at COP28 in Dubai and at conference in Prague.

In November, we hosted our own Independent Group Annual Conference at the Wyboston Lakes Resort near Bedford, outside London for the first time. Central Bedfordshire is an Independent-only led administration, after the May 2023 local elections. The diversity of the agenda reflected the diversity of our group and as a first, we welcomed Kate Cheney MP of the Teal Independents in Australia. Kate spoke about winning strategies for global Independents and Greens and shared her own political journey in Australia. The conference gave an update on our emerging local government white paper and there were various breakout sessions covering Artificial Intelligence, Children’s Services and the future of housing. The feedback from members afterwards was overwhelmingly positive, especially our ‘recipes for success’ workshops focussing on being an Independent or Green in administration, opposition as well as making it on your own as a local councillor. Another first was having the True and Fair Party, Climate Party, Yorkshire Party and the Democratic Network all on the same platform talking about the rise of smaller independent parties and groupings within local and national government.

Initiated and organised locally, I also supported regional events in East Midlands and East of England, NALC in Stratford, ADEPT in Birmingham and I visited a number of our Independent Group Leaders in their Councils.

Congratulations to all nominations, citations and to this year’s Clarence Barrett Award winner, Councillor Sue Baxter, regional lead peer for the West Midlands and North-West region. A previous Chair of the National Association of Local Councils, Sue currently serves as a Deputy Leader of Bromsgrove District Council. Despite her own health issues, she has kept going and kept taking on more work not less! Sue is an inspiration to us all to keep going in the face of adversity. Other citations were given to Councillors Emily O’Brien, Caroline Jackson and Kevin Etheridge. Thank you for the service you provide to your residents and local communities, you are an inspiration to us all! Campaigning for funds and powers

Despite our ongoing success story as a Group, the major issues affecting our councils still remain. For example, we continue to campaign on essential funding for our services with the LGA warning that councils in England face a £6.2 billion funding gap over the next two years. As a result, councils will still need to raise council tax and many will need to make cuts to local services in order to plug funding gaps. The Office for Local Government (Oflog) continues to loom large with its many boxes to tick, rather than the LGA peer-led improvement support for councils.

Our Group Executive took the lead in inviting Josh Goodman, who is the Chief Executive of Oflog, and stressed our concerns surrounding the duplication of data, ‘early warning conversations’, and questioned its operational independence. I lead the cross-party Civility in Public Life Campaign bringing support for a cleaner, kinder politics, with toolkits and codes of conduct on the LGA website. The launch of the Jo Cox Commission report was a landmark moment in our ‘Debate not Hate’ campaign, which I was proud to support. Among its many agreed recommendations, was that elected members will soon have dedicated local police contact to report any incidents of abuse and/or intimidation. I also lead on these issues on the UK Forum of Local Government Leaders from across our four nations, meeting in Northern Ireland, and on the CEMR, meeting in Georgia close to the Russian border in June. Thanks

The LGA Independent Group continues to strive and to succeed in many areas that matter to our residents and our members, including elections! My sincere thanks go to the Executive for their support and hard work throughout the year. We have been joined by four new members: Councillor Johnny Denis, Councillor Andrew Walters, Councillor Frank Biederman and Councillor Nate Higgins, each one making their own unique contributions to the development of policy within the Group. I would also like to thank our fantastic staff in the Group Office, led by Abigail Gallop. I’m pleased to say that Rodrigo Sanchez has now become a permanent member of staff in the office and Noleen Rosen has returned from her secondment to the legal team, where she worked on the COVID -19 Inquiry. Thanks also to the support networks: Independent Network, the Association of Green Councillors and the Plaid Councillors Association. Each provides a wealth of helpful resources and advice, key support for our members. Huge thanks to our President, Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE, and to all our Vice Presidents, and also to cross-benchers Lord Best, Lord Bichard, Lord Bird, Baroness Young, Baroness Casey and Lord Adebowale, most of whom I have met during the year and who have kindly supported us in the Houses of Parliament on issues affecting our work in local government.

Most of all, my heartfelt thanks to all our members for another fantastic year. Thank you for all you do for our residents and our local communities up and down the country. I am so proud to have been re-elected to lead such an inspiring group of individuals. I shall continue to stand firm for you and on the issues that matter to you and your communities, in the LGA, in Parliament and abroad. I look forward to the future with growing confidence and optimism in our Independent Group and all that we can achieve together, bringing our diverse and inspired thinking to work on government at all levels, improving life for our residents and our planet.