LEADERS from across the Heart of the South West (HotSW) are set to agree a strategy to double productivity across the region when they meet on Friday, March 23.

The first ever HotSW Joint Committee meeting, which was due to be held on March 2 but was postponed due to the snow, will be held at Plymouth City Council House.  It is open to the public and will be live streamed online.

The committee will be the vehicle through which authorities and organisations across Somerset and Devon work together to improve productivity and continue to push for the devolution of additional funding and decision-making powers.

Top of the agenda will be agreeing the Productivity Strategy that has been taking shape during the last two years and appointing a Chair and Vice-Chair of the new committee.

The Joint Committee is made up of Council Leaders and other lead representatives of county, unitary and district councils across Devon and Somerset along with Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks, the Local Enterprise Partnership and local Clinical Commissioning Groups.

For more than two years these 23 organisations have been looking at ways to improve productivity across the area and work together to capitalise on opportunities presented by Government policy.

Those opportunities include the potential devolution of additional funding and decision-making powers to the local level to help increase prosperity and productivity.

Leaders from these organisations have already had fruitful meetings with key civil servants and monthly meetings with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are in the pipeline, demonstrating the power of the partnership.

The Productivity Strategy aims to double productivity in the area over 20 years, focussing on themes including leadership, housing, connectivity, infrastructure, skills and training. It looks at growth, capitalising on the area’s distinctive assets and maximising the potential of digital technology.

The meeting will also discuss a plan to deliver the Strategy as well as agreeing a statement of intent which sets out a policy for how the Committee will work with other authorities and partnerships.

Somerset County Council is acting as the host of the HotSW Joint Committee and meeting agendas and further information including the full Productivity Strategy can be found on the website: http://democracy.somerset.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=357 .

The meeting will also be live streamed on the Plymouth City Council website: (https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/aboutcouncil/watchourmeetings) .