Hertfordshire’s Local Area Agreement (LAA)

One Watford is a partner in a countywide agreement made with central government. A Local Area Agreement is a three-year agreement, running from April 2006 to March 2009, that sets out the priorities for a local area - in our case, Hertfordshire. Its aim is to improve local services through stronger partnership working and a more focused approach on what is important for a particular area.

The countywide strategic partnership, known as Hertfordshire Forward, co-ordinates the LAA, with Hertfordshire County Council being the lead authority. District councils, district LSPs, statutory organisations such as the police service and the health service, the voluntary and community sector and business are all involved.

The Agreement is made up of a number of targets aimed at improving the quality of life for residents in Hertfordshire, and they are organized into four ‘blocks’ – children and young people, safer and stronger communities, healthy communities and older people and economic development and enterprise. A number of these targets are more challenging and, if achieved at the end of the three years, will attract ‘reward money’. This means potentially an extra £27million for the county, part of which will be divided amongst the districts.

For more information on the LAA, please visit the Hertslink website

You can also find out more from this ‘Rough Guide to the LAA’

Work is now beginning on a new agreement, which will be based on a new Sustainable Community Strategy for Hertfordshire. You can find out more on the work Hertfordshire Forward is doing with its partners by clicking on this link