About Us

The Consortium

The Consortium is made up of public authorities that wish to collaborate in the procurement and provision of quality legal services to their authorities. They wish to maximise efficiencies and increase the effectiveness of the external legal support they require to supplement their in-house provision.

To this end, following a rigorous procurement exercise, through its lead authority Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council , the Consortium has,entered into Framework Agreements with external solicitors firms for the provision of legal advice and support and with Barristers Chambers for the provision of advocacy and advice.

Building upon this successful collaboration, the Consortium authorities intend to increase inter-authority working and co-operation in the interests of increased efficiency and effectiveness.

This Consortium website allows the Consortium authorities to commission work from appointed firms and barristers and provides the means by which information,advice and views can be shared with others.

The Consortium also provides bespoke annual training programme for its members with a range of courses on offer to meet identified training gaps and needs. Courses are free to unlimited number of deligates from member Authorities, and carry CPDhours and are all provided within the North West region.

• Current members of the Consortium

The following organisations are currently realising the benefits of being part of the Consortium

Preston City Council                                     

Burnley Borough Council                              

South Lakeland Council                                 

West Lancashire Borough Council                       

South Ribble Borough Council                    

The Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside                         

Merseytravel                                                  

Chorley Borough Council                              

Pendle Borough Council                                

Carlisle City Council                                      

Warrington Borough Council                        

Cheshire West and Chester Council                            

Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council                        

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council                      

Trafford Borough Council                     

Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council                         

Bury  Metropolitan Borough Council                           

Halton Borough Council                                

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council                   

Liverpool City Council    

The Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire                              

St Helens Borough Council

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Wyre Borough Council

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Lake District National Park Authority

Cumbria County Council

Cheshire East Council

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council

Lancaster City Council

Allerdale Borough Council

Blackburn and Darwin Borough Council

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council 

Barrow Borough Council

Full Consortium Meetings are held regularly and an Annual Conference will be held for all participating authorities.

In addition, the Consortium has adopted arrangements for making decisions and keeping all participating authorities informed about developments.

• Management Board

The Management Board is made up of representatives from a range of different tiers of local government and also provides a good geographical spread across the North West region as a whole. The current Board members are:

Jayne Hammond from Bury Metropolitan Borough Council

Matthew Neal from South Lakeland District Council

David Wilcock from Burnley Borough Council

Ian Mason from Warrington Borough Council

Jill Coule from  Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council

• Steering Group

The Steering Group is made up of the Consortium Management Board and a representative from each of the Partner firms. These are:

Graeme Creer from Weightmans LLP

Kate Creer from DLA Piper UK LLP

Eve Gregory from Beachcroft LLP

Stephen Chalcraft from Pannone LLP

• Web Focus Group

The Web Focus Group is made up of representatives of participating authorities who are particularly interested in the development of the Consortium website to maximise the benefits to members. It currently comprises:

 Julie Watling from Merseytravel

David Talbot from Burnley Borough Council

Mike Halsall from Stockport Metropolitan Council

Pauline Tarrant from Stockport Metropolitan Council

Matthew Jones from West Lancashire District Council

Anne Wright from Warrington Borough Council

• PR and Communications Group

The PR and Communications Group is made up of representatives of participating authorities who are particularly interested in ensuring a flow of information to all Consortium members  as well as promoting the Consortium and its benefits to others. Following a sucessfull Charity Ball in aid of the North West Air Ambulance the group are looking at optiond for charity involvement of the Consortium in the future It currently comprises:

Kay Lovelady from South Ribble Borough Council

John Mitchell from Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Jayne Hammond from Bury Metropolitan Borough Council