We showcased our levelling up programme for Essex at a meeting with political leaders from across the east.
The East of England All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) met on Tuesday (13 December) to discuss the regional levelling up agenda. The meeting followed the publication of the East of England Local Government Association’s (EELGA) Levelling Up the East of England 2023-2030 report.
We have already started work on our own levelling up programme and in January 2022 published a white paper setting out the countywide strategy for levelling up in Essex.
We have now moved to delivery, with eight launch events held and 23 projects initiated that target the drivers of levelling up such as skills, education, community and literacy.
The 23 projects launched have seen investment made to tackle gaps in provision across the county including in areas identified in the EELGA report, such as skills, education and health.
Cllr Louise McKinlay, ECC Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community, Equality, Partnerships and Performance, shared our progress with the APPG.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr McKinlay said: “We recognise that levelling up Essex is not something that can be achieved by the council alone and it must have the support of local and cross sector partnerships, as well as communities themselves, to be a success. To drive real, sustainable change we need to work with partners in Essex and across the wider region.
“As one of the first councils in the country to outline our ambitious levelling up plans, I was pleased to share our activity and progress towards success, with the APPG.”
“As this new report identifies, there is much work still to be done, but working with our public and private sector partners, businesses, schools and communities we are determined to widen opportunities so that more residents of Essex can fulfil their potential.”
The EELGA report outlines how the region is performing against each of the Government’s 12 Levelling Up missions. As well as identifying areas where the East of England performs well, it also identifies areas where more needs to be done if the region is to meet the Government’s missions.
The report puts forward a number of recommendations as to where levelling up work should be prioritised in each of these areas.
Find out more about Everyone’s Essex – Our Plan for Levelling Up the County at our website.
We will be hosting a Parliamentary event in March exploring how we are driving levelling up at a local level.