Draft:Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities

The Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA) is a special interest group within the Local Government Association (LGA). It has been chaired by Sir Stephen Houghton CBE since 1999.

Following the addition of Middlesbrough Council in late 2023, SIGOMA represents 48 member councils across the North, Midlands and South Coast regions of England.

SIGOMA represents its member councils within the LGA and to Government with the aim of securing sufficient, sustainable and fair funding for its members. The group represents its members on a range of issues, from local government finance to education as set out in its 'SIGOMA Manifesto: For a sustainable and fairer future', which was published in 2023.

SIGOMA has spent time highlighting the situation in local government finance. SIGOMA's analysis of the significant cuts to funding for local government have been used to illustrate the dire financial straits local authorities find themselves in. In the summer of 2023, SIGOMA released survey results that showed 1 in 10 of its member councils were at risk of issuing a Section 114 notice in the next year. . This was followed by Birmingham City Council issuing a Section 114 notice and then Nottingham City Council. The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee launched an inquiry into financial distress in local authorities in November 2023. SIGOMA gave evidence to this inquiry at a oral evidence session.

List of members
• Barnsley

• Blackburn with Darwen

• Blackpool

• Bolton

• Bradford

• Bury

• Calderdale

• County Durham

• Coventry

• Derby

• Doncaster

• Dudley

• Gateshead

• Halton

• Kingston upon Hull

• Kirklees

• Knowsley

• Leeds

• Leicester

• Liverpool

• Manchester

• Middlesbrough

• Newcastle upon Tyne

• North Tyneside

• Nottingham

• Oldham

• Plymouth

• Portsmouth

• Rochdale

• Rotherham

• Salford

• Sandwell

• Sheffield

• South Tyneside

• Southampton

• St. Helens

• Stockport

• Stockton-on-Tees

• Stoke-on-Trent

• Sunderland

• Tameside

• Trafford

• Wakefield

• Walsall

• Warrington

• Wigan

• Wirral

• Wolverhampton