DUP's Storey slams DfC Partnership Panel as 'waste of time'

The Partnership Panel, which facilitates meetings between Stormont ministers and local elected members, was established to “provide a structured relationship between central and local government, to promote collaboration and synergies between ministers and councillors, and to provide opportunities for joint policy formation to enhance the co-ordination and delivery of better outcomes for our society”, DfC’s website says.

At October’s Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council meeting, chief executive David Jackson informed members there were no matters for reporting to the Partnership Panel, and suggested that minutes of any future partnership would be presented at meetings “so that the members have that information readily at hand”.

In response, Councillor Storey said: “I just ask David for his honest assessment; is the Partnership Panel a total and absolute waste of time?”

“Because I’ve been (a councillor) since 2022, and I think you could write on the back of a postage stamp what they’ve discussed. It is yet another example of how we are the last in the line.

“It’s supposed to be this great invention of ‘let’s all come together and we’ll all have a wonderful time’, [but] I’ve heard of a Partnership meeting [where] only one minister appeared and nobody else.

“What is the value of us having any involvement with the Partnership Panel?”

Mr Jackson said, through his discussions with the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA), he had heard “a certain amount of frustration from the local government side” around engagement in the Panel.

“It was supposed to be the mechanism through which local government engage with Stormont and vice versa, and there hasn’t been a huge amount of evidence of that,” he said.

“I know NILGA are considering if we can look at those terms of reference and make it more meaningful.”