Surrey Lieutenancy meeting to discuss Local Government reorganisation & culture

On 30th July, the Surrey Cultural Partnership attended a meeting organised by the Surrey Lieutenancy to discuss Local Government Reorganisation in the county, and the opportunities for arts, culture and heritage.

Members of the Cultural Leaders’ Network, Arts Council England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and representatives of networks including Surrey Museums Partnership, Visit Surrey and the Surrey Lieutenancy’s Arts & Culture Focus Group, along with Arts and Heritage Officers from current Boroughs and Districts, also attended the meeting, held at Lightbox Gallery & Museum in Woking.

Following a welcome from Mary Creswell DL, Co-chair of the Surrey Lieutenancy’s Arts & Culture Focus Group, SCP Co-chairs Karl Newman and Marilyn Scott MBE DL gave an update on the work of SCP, advocating for the critical importance of arts, culture and heritage in delivering priorities being shared in the emerging strategic frameworks for the new East Surrey and West Surrey Councils. We know – and research shows – that health, wellbeing, belonging, skills, economic development and community cohesion are all improved through access to arts, culture and heritage, and the meeting was an opportunity to highlight this.

Ian Burrows, Head of Culture, Leisure and Environment, Elmbridge Borough Council and Co-workstream Lead for the LGR transition programme, covering leisure, cultural services, and libraries, East Surrey Shadow Authority, updated the meeting on LGR in East Surrey, and outlined next steps. Ian directed those attending the meeting to the Surrey LGR Hub where latest news and information can be found.

In smaller groups, the meeting discussed opportunities and  challenges, which included: seizing this moment to put in place new collaborations and partnerships; a need for more Surrey-specific impact data, segmented for East and West too; connecting with the new Shadow Authorities and making sure they know about the breadth and depth of work being delivered here.

Summing up, Mark Tantam DL, Co-chair of the Surrey Lieutenancy Arts & Culture Focus Group, encouraged those attending to make contact with Officers and Councillors in the new Shadow Authorities to ensure they are known, and reiterated the need for ongoing advocacy.

Marilyn Scott MBE DL said: “LGR and its implications are front of mind for us all, and this meeting, convened by the Surrey Lieutenancy, was a welcome opportunity to hear from colleagues, to ask questions, and to identify next steps. Surprising Surrey outlines a need for data collection in this county and we are currently investigating mechanisms to secure this. We will report back on progress at the earliest opportunity.”

 “We would like to convey thanks to Arts Council England for kindly supporting this event.”

If you would like to find out more, please contact surreyculturalpartnership@gmail.com

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