Sheila Oxtoby
Partnership working is making major projects deliverable
Great Yarmouth's core spending power has more than halved between 2010-11 and 2023-24, but it has been particularly encouraging to see the council's work with a range of partners on regeneration bearing fruit, says Sheila Oxtoby.
Facing up to the housing challenge
Sheila Oxtoby sets out how Great Yarmouth BC is approaching the housing challenges facing much of the sector and how an understanding of housing markets is key to targeted funding.
Challenging times
Behind the headlines on finances, councils are grappling with protecting services and regenerating communities, writes Sheila Oxtoby.
The tourism economy is at the centre of life in the borough
The summer invariably threw last-minute challenges at Great Yarmouth BC as it supports its tourism economy, says Sheila Oxtoby.
We're homing in on housing in Great Yarmouth
The biggest single expansion in council homes in Great Yarmouth for almost 20 years is a sign of our ambition for our residents, says Sheila Oxtoby.
Tapping into the talent on our doorstep
Great Yarmouth BC's work on supported internships dovetails with its determination to have an inclusive and diverse workforce that better reflects the communities it serves, says Sheila Oxtoby.
Partnership delivers forward thinking regeneration
A new £21.4m campus - a partnership project between Great Yarmouth BC, Norfolk CC and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership - will be one of the largest offshore wind zones in the world when complete, says Sheila Oxtoby.
A safe end to a week-long drama in Great Yarmouth
The operation in Great Yarmouth to make a bomb safe was, to put it mildly, complex, says Sheila Oxtoby 'The intelligence on the ground was changing – not just day-by-day, but sometimes minute-by-minute.'
Potential investment from a Norfolk deal would be a huge boost
Sheila Oxtoby says the county deal for Norfolk might not be the one everyone would have liked or chosen but ‘if it goes ahead we will be doing our best to make it work’.
We had little option but to take legal action around housing asylum seekers
Great Yarmouth is among a number of councils in the midst of legal proceedings around the accommodation of asylum seekers. Sheila Oxtoby says 'with appropriate funding and multi-agency collaboration this is a situation we should be at the heart of. Sadly, we’re not.'
Protecting the welfare of asylum seekers in Great Yarmouth
The Home Office, with no advance notice and no funding, has left local authorities and health services scrambling to provide support for asylum seekers placed in local areas, says Sheila Oxtoby.
What will the two leadership candidates mean for councils?
It is clear there are some major differences in the two Conservative leadership candidates' likely approaches if they win the top job, but it is less clear what they might mean for local government, says Sheila Oxtoby.
The right conversations are more powerful than structures
Tackling issues such as delayed hospital discharges is not about structures and powers, although they can definitely help, but more about having the right conversations so we can work together in place, says Sheila Oxtoby.
We need more joined-up working between local and central Government
'Nutrient neutrality' regulations are well-meaning but the need to reduce our impact on the environment is best achieved through long-term planning, says Sheila Oxtoby.
Helping the mayoral medicine go down
There is a willingness to enter into negotiations on a county deal in good faith, but there seems to be a mismatch between our ambition and what may be on offer, says chief executive of Great Yarmouth BC Sheila Oxtoby.
Give us the chance to plan ahead
Chief executive of Great Yarmouth BC Sheila Oxtoby outlines the three key things her council is hoping for in 2022, including more freedom to respond to local needs.
The next few months will be testing
The pressures of COVID have not gone away, says chief executive of Great Yarmouth BC Sheila Oxtoby. 'We are devising ‘Plan B’, working with our key partners and communities and through our Community Champions programme to be ready.'
Waiting with anticipation for the levelling up White Paper
Sheila Oxtoby says that like many in local government, she is keen to see whether the levelling up White Paper creates opportunities for more power and funding to be devolved to a local level.
Embracing a greener tourism economy in Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth is engaged with European partners and Norfolk CC on working towards a greener tourism offer that embraces a circular economy, says Sheila Oxtoby.
Elections like no other
Sheila Oxtoby outlines the scale of the preparations for the operation of polling stations and counts to mitigate risk and ensure openness and transparency during 'elections like no other'.