Agenda item - Communities & Neighbourhoods Portfolio

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Agenda item

Communities & Neighbourhoods Portfolio

Report of the Executive Director, Neighbourhoods, Communities and Housing (copy attached)

Decision:

(1) That the Committee agrees the aims and objectives of the Portfolio as presented in Section 3.1 of the report with its focus on service improvement through increased involvement of the community and collaboration of service providers in all sectors;

(2) Agrees the direction of travel of the Communities & Neighbourhoods Portfolio of programmes as described in Appendix 2;

(3) Agrees the strategy to take forward the neighbourhoods working model as outlined in Section 3.6 and Appendix 3, building upon the existing strengths of local communities, and according to levels of need and existing assets;

(4) Agrees that the work of the Communities & Neighbourhoods Portfolio will support ward councillors in their leading role in neighbourhood working;

(5) AgreeS to the establishment of a task and finish cross-party working group to give strategic leadership to the Communities & Neighbourhoods Portfolio work, to be chaired by Councillor Daniel; and

(6) Agrees the council’s commitment to collaborative working and to being an active partner in the development and delivery of neighbourhood action plans.

Minutes:

7.1 The Committee considered a report the Executive Director, Neighbourhoods, Communities and Housing, the purpose of which was to provide Members with an update on the programmes which sat within the Communities and Neighbourhoods Portfolio, which included:

Community and neighbourhood hub development (physical and virtual);

Community collaboration;

Neighbourhood governance; and

Enforcement and inspection (development of the Field Officer role)

7.2 It was noted that following the Committees’ agreement to the programmes to be covered in July 2016. Good progress had been made in each of those areas and progress reports on each of them were set out in the appendices to the report. The overarching principle was to put communities at the heart of service delivery and to focus services on community needs and to target those in most need; to enable residents to have a greater involvement in decisions and to enable more people to do more for themselves and each other. There was an emphasis on making services easier to use and to provide digital services and help using them. Also, to facilitate the sharing of information and resources, to drive greater collaboration between service deliverers, to improve satisfaction levels by involving residents and to improve relationships with residents. One of the key features of the programme had been the input given by local partners. It was important to continue to increase effectiveness against a backdrop of diminishing resources, this approach would provide a better website/officer interface and would enable greater targetting of resources, the same level of coverage would be provided for each area of the city but how it was provided would vary dependent on the individual needs of communities and work on developing hubs was being carried out with local groups.

7.3 Councillor Simson stated that whilst she welcomed the approach being used she had some concerns, in communities where there might not be strong community groups what would be done ensure that the appropriate level of engagement took place and that groups used to inform future strategy were representative of their communities. The Executive Director, Larissa Reed explained that fundamental changes were needed and a timescale had been factored in which allowed would enable wide-ranging dialogue to take place. Community Leaders and Councillors would have an integral role in leading on that too.

7.4 Councillor Moonan stated that she commended the approach being adopted, in her view progress had been made in a short space of time and provided the inbuilt flexibility to adapt and make changes as necessary, the digital solutions proposed were exciting and should be cheaper than more traditional means of engagement; she awaited further update reports with interest.

7.5 Councillor Cattell stated that as a newly appointed member of the Committee she welcomed the apparent progress which had been achieved within a relatively short period of time and the digital first approach being encouraged.

7.6 Councillor Peltzer Dunn expressed support for the work completed to date and the proposed approach going forward but queried references to the Section 106 element. The Head of Legal Services, Corporate Law, Elizabeth Culbert that the Section 106 Agreement had been drafted such that it could be amended to reflect what the Council was actually going to do.

7.7 Councillor West stated that whilst supporting the approach he had concerns regarding the role of the Field Officer, how that would interface across departments and was anxious that role did not become overloaded. He considered it was important to quantify that role in order to ensure that it worked well. Councillor Peltzer Dunn concurred and it was agreed that this aspect and details on funding for Field Officer post(s) would be quantified in the future update report.

7.8 Joanna Martindale, Hangleton and Knoll Project, stated that the community and voluntary sector had welcomed the opportunity to offer their input and she was aware that in depth discussions had taken place behind the scenes and felt sure that this would feed through into future reports to Committee throughout the year. The Chair, Councillor Daniel stated that she the input from the voluntary was considered both valuable and an integral part of the process.

7.9 RESOLVED – (1) That the Committee agrees the aims and objectives of the Portfolio as presented in Section 3.1 of the report with its focus on service improvement through increased involvement of the community and collaboration of service providers in all sectors;