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The councils across Gloucestershire have
agreed to work together to procure consultancy and other services
in the event that more than one of the Councils require the same
services to assist with preparing and adopting their local
plans.

Reasons for the decision

The councils across Gloucestershire which
includes 6 district councils and Gloucestershire County Council
have been working over many years on joint commissions for
consultancy work to support the preparation of local plans e.g.
Housing Needs Assessment. This decision formalises the
approach.
By signing this agreement, it does not commit any funding nor
affect procurement routes and policies. What it does do is provide
the flexibility for groups of the councils to commission studies
related to local plans in whatever combination is needed. It will
simplify our current approach, which needs a separate agreement on
a case-by-case basis.
The purpose of this agreement is to help speed up the process of
commissioning for the preparation of local plans across
Gloucestershire.

Alternative options considered

To not enter the Participation Agreement and
continue on the entering into an Agreement on a case-by-case basis.
Evidence of commissions to date have demonstrated that this builds
delay into the commissioning process and adds in costs.