Council bosses have been warned of potential tensions in their relationships with key external partners.

In debates at a meeting of the Local Government Association's (LGA) executive on Thursday, members talked about how the organisation would work with others on health and social care, housing and flooding.

But various members flagged relationship issues with NHS England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and the Environment Agency.

On the integration of health and social care, the executive was told that 12 health and wellbeing boards had yet to submit final plans setting out how they will spend the £3.8bn Better Care Fund (BCF), which has to be done by 4 April.

A report to the executive said there was ‘widespread concern that hospital trusts have been insufficiently engaged' in agreeing the implications of the plans.

Leeds City Council leader Cllr Keith Wakefield cautioned that NHS England were ‘not the most accountable or responsive people' and asked how the relationship between the LGA and NHS England could be improved.

This week, the National Audit Office announced it would be examining how well placed health and wellbeing boards were to make the most of the BCF.

On housing, County Councils Network chairman David Hodge said he was concerned that there would be conflicts between the higher housing targets of LEPs – influenced by a desire to achieve economic growth – and the lower targets of councils – based on need.

Cllr Hodge also warned that councils would struggle to find the ‘huge sums of money' being requested by the Environment Agency for future flood and coastal defences.

But Robert Light, deputy chairman of both the LGA and Environment Agency (EA), said: ‘They will need partnership funding because the Government funding criteria says they have to get a certain amount of partnership funding.'

A report to the executive by officers read: ‘Local authorities have committed the majority of external contributions for flood defences (approximately £110m) since the new partnership funding model came in.

‘However, going forward, their ability to do so will be constrained by reductions in budgets.

‘There will be a need [for the EA] to identify other sources of match funding for flood
defences.'