Issue - meetings

The Leader AGREED to adopt the Community Engagement Toolkit for use within the Council.

Decision taken and published on Thursday 15 July 2010.  Call-in expires at 5 pm on Thursday 22 July 2010.  Decision can be implemented from Friday 23 July 2010 if not called-in.  

In response to a question raised regarding the number of new tenants returning a customer satisfaction survey, the Corporate Manager undertook to provide the information as a post meeting note within the minutes of this meeting. Action: Paul Howes /Gemma Barron

The Leader requested the names of the Parish Councils that had been invited to attend a forum to examine the workings of the council’s exception sites policy (Action 23 refers). The Corporate Manager undertook to provide the information to the Leader at his next meeting. Action: Paul Howes

The Leader

(a)            NOTED the progress on the action plan, and

(b)               AGREED to the deletion of the actions 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 22 contained in the appendix to the report.

Copies of the toolkit will be enclosed with the agenda for those Members/Officers attending the meeting and included in the agenda pack on the Council’s website, www.scambs.gov.uk

The Leader AGREED to adopt the Community Engagement Toolkit for use within the Council.

Reason

Engagement toolkits have been produced by various public sector organisations to assist their staff in engaging communities. Toolkits offer advice and guidance on engagement methods .

As a result of a Cabinet decision on 2 July 2009 and the adoption of the Community Engagement Strategy, a Community Engagement Toolkit was produced which provided guidance for officers and elected members to consider when developing policies and strategies.

The Leader AGREED to the adoption of the Community Engagement Toolkit for use within the Council.

The Corporate Manager, Community and Customer Services, presented a report to

a)      Update the Leader on progress made with the Community Engagement Action Plan, and

b)      Provide an opportunity for the Leader to highlight actions requiring further development.

Following a review of the action plan the following comments were made:

• The Leader agreed that it was no longer appropriate to

• The Leader advised that Parish Councils seemed reluctant to invite Cabinet Members, other than the Planning and Housing Portfolio Holders, to their meetings.

• The Leader was advised that
  • information collected by the Place Survey was used as a basis in the formation of the ‘Hard to Reach’ groups consultation.
  • the level of satisfaction with the rent collection and payment options for residents of council managed Travellers sites should be evaluated in the interests of equality with other council tenants.  It was agreed that this work could possibly be combined with other work with Travellers.
  • responses to the budget survey in the South Cambs Magazine were still being received.
  • no community clean up events had been held to date.

The Community Engagement Action Plan was NOTED.

Cabinet AGREED to adopt the Community Engagement Strategy and Action Plan.

Other Options Considered: Rejected:

(a) To request amendments to the Community Engagement Strategy and / or Action Plan prior to adoption; or

(b) Not to adopt the Community Engagement Strategy and / or Action Plan and propose an alternative approach to ensure compliance with the Duty to Involve.

Reason For Decision: The Community Engagement Strategy had been published according to the white paper ‘Communities in Control – real people, real power’ and the introduction of the new Duty to Involve local people in decision-making, which came into effect in April 2009. Adoption of an engagement strategy, although not mandatory, will assist the authority in providing evidence of compliance with the Duty to Involve. 

Cabinet AGREED to adopt the Community Engagement Strategy and Action Plan. 

The Leader reminded members of the recent Scrutiny and Overview Committee consideration of the Community Engagement Strategy and Action Plan, and drew attention to the responses received during the recent twelve-week consultation period.  He clarified that the requirement for Executive members to attend Parish Council meetings outside of their own ward should read to “three parish council meetings annually”.

In response to questions about the quality of consultation undertaken, especially with younger people, the Executive Director explained that the Youth Participation Strategy was already underway and due in October 2009.

Cabinet AGREED to adopt the Community Engagement Strategy and Action Plan. 

The District Council's newly drafted Community Engagement Strategy and Action Plan aims to set out

(a)               what we mean by engagement,

(b)               why we are committed to engaging our communities and partners, and

(c)               how we plan to engage now and in the future. 

It has been designed to ensure that engagement opportunities are provided in the most appropriate way for all stakeholders to be involved and give feedback. 

We are seeking your views on the draft strategy and action plan; the consultation will run from 1st April 2009 until 23rd June 2009.

You can access the draft strategy and action plan, as well as online and paper consultation response forms by visiting http://www.scambs.gov.uk/CommunityandLiving/engagementStrategy.htm

Alternatively please contact Gemma Barron, Partnerships Manager, on 01954 713340 or gemma.barron@scambs.gov.uk for a paper copy 

Councillor RMA Manning, Leader of Council, presented this report on the Community Engagement Strategy, which was currently being considered by senior managers and was about to go out to public and stakeholder consultation. The Strategy was due to be considered by Cabinet in July 2009.

Councillor Manning stated that this was a Government initiative and had been designed more for urban areas than rural districts, which had parish councils. It was important for the Council to adapt the Strategy to a rural environment and so involve parish councils.

Ladder of involvement

The Partnerships Manager explained that one tool for engaging with the community was called the ladder of involvement which sought to:

• Inform
• Consult
• Involve
• Empower

Consulting with public

The Partnerships Manager explained that the Strategy and its Action Plan would go out to public and stakeholder consultation, including parish councils, for 12 weeks. The aim was to ensure that all the community should feel able to engage in the democratic process and that elected Councillors has a crucial role to play in this process.

New communities

It was recognised that promoting community engagement in areas of new development often proved more challenging than in established communities. However, recent high attendance at a community event was seen as testament to work currently being carried out at Orchard Park.

Youth participation

It was noted that a Youth Parliament was in existence and South Cambridgeshire Local Strategic Partnership had a youth representative; however daytime meetings were difficult for students to attend. The Chairman introduced Jackson Nazombe, a Participation Officer, who was joint funded by the District and City Councils. He explained that his aim was to encourage young people to recognise not just their rights, but also the responsibilities that accompanied these rights. He favoured small projects that young people could see the benefits of, as it was more difficult to generate enthusiasm among them with longer-term projects that could only be completed after they had grown up or moved on. The following points were made:

• The ladder of involvement was useful in youth participation.
• The replacement of youth leaders was a constant challenge.
• Sports participation was part of youth participation.
• Youth Forums were useful to educate and empower.

The Committee expressed its wish to involve young people in the work of the Committee but noted Mr Nazombe’s view that it could prove difficult to encourage young people to attend one of this Committee’s meetings. Using Mr Nazombe as a conduit may be the way forward.

Community Engagement Strategy

The Committee hoped that young people could become more widely included in the Community Engagement Strategy.

Parish plans

It was agreed that parish councils should be able to benefit from the experiences of other parishes that had undergone their own parish plans. It was noted that Cambridgeshire ACRE supported parishes undergoing parish plans and it was suggested that a parish plan database could be set up.

Visiting parish councils

It was reported that each Executive Councillor planned to visit at least three parish  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12

The Community Development Manager presented this report on the progress being made on the development of a Community Engagement Strategy. Committee Members received a list of 20 potential objectives with the request to choose their top six to eight and return to the Community Engagement and Communications Officer.

The Community Engagement and Communications Officer acknowledged that engaging with “hard to reach”groups was challenging and a variety of methods were used involving schools and village colleges and village based activities such as afternoon tea clubs.

It was noted that the Council engaged with planning agents regarding the planning service provided by the Council.

Engaging with parish councils

It was suggested that the Government did not understand the significance of parish councils, but this should not prevent this Council from recognising their importance. Concern was expressed that the report did not specifically include parish councils in its list of who should be engaged. It was agreed that a Community Engagement Strategy for South Cambridgeshire should highlight the importance of parish, district and county councillors.

The Committee noted the report.

The Community Development Manager introduced this verbal report on Community Engagement and in particular the introduction of Neighbourhood Action Panels (NAPs) and concern regarding how they will function alongside Neighbourhood Panels and parish councils.

It was agreed that the NAPs needed input from the parish councils, although it was understood that small parish councils did not see any value in attending meetings that would focus on issues outside their parishes.

The Community Development Manager agreed to set up a meeting with the relevant representatives to discuss the best way forward.

Proposed phone box removal

On a separate matter the Community Development Manager explained that British Telecom (BT) had sent the District Council a list of phone boxes in the District that they planned to remove. The list had been e-mailed to parish councillors and their responses were being collated and would be sent to BT. There were concerns regarding the willingness of BT to respond to points raised, however the deadline for comments was 9 September. This allowed time for the Council to submit its concerns and send a reminder asking for a response, within the deadline. It was agreed that the list e-mailed to parish councils should also be sent to all District Councillors.

Jez Reeve presented a proposal for developing strategic arrangements for community work in South Cambridgeshire and explained that there was a perceived need to “join up” the strands of existing community engagement.  She said that existing community engagement was strong, but needed co-ordinating with other activities within the area.  She asked the LSP to allow the formation of a sub group to make better use of communications and time.

A sub group, she said, would be able to identify the strands and report back to the LSP ways of improving linkages between groups.

County Councillor Reynolds asked if any terms of reference were available for the group, if it was to be a “task and finish” and if any timelines had been drawn up.   He also commented that the group would need to be kept small.

It was confirmed that terms of reference had not been drawn up, the group would disband on completion of the task and that a timescale had not been determined.

It was added that the Police would work with the group and that it would have to include the “hard to reach” groups.  Tricia Pope confirmed that the Council would be able to provide information on “hard to reach” groups to the sub-group.

The Board supported the establishment of a Community Engagement Group.