Agenda and minutes

Councillors Ian Nimmo-Smith and Ray Manning (Leaders of the district councils) will open the meeting and welcome all attending. The appointment of the meeting’s Chair will be agreed. LSP members will also be invited to briefly introduce themselves and outline the purpose of the organisation they represent. 

Councillors Ian Nimmo-Smith and Ray Manning (Leaders of the district councils) opened the first meeting of the new LSP and welcomed all attending. It was said that the new LSP was a recognition of the interdependencies of the districts and would provide a strong voice in raising awareness of and helping to resolve shared priorities.  Cllr. Ray Manning proposed that Cllr. Ian Nimmo-Smith be the Chair of the LSP for the first year. Cllr. John Reynolds and Carolin Göhler then seconded this. LSP members attending introduced themselves, at the request of the Chair, to the meeting.  Cllr. Ray Manning was elected as vice-Chair. 

Gemma Barron (SCDC) will introduce a paper, at pages 1 to 8, showing a proposed term of reference for the LSP. Members are asked to comment on the paper and agree a final version to guide the work of the LSP. 

Gemma Barron (SCDC) introduced a paper showing proposed terms of reference for the LSP. This was based on the previous approaches of the former LSP’s. Members were asked to comment on the paper and agree a final version to guide the work of the LSP.

The LSP said that:

·         The terms of reference should emphasise that most of its membership was made up of organisations that did not have affiliations to political parties – unlike local authorities whose executive had political allegiances and were democratically elected.

·         The LSP should develop an Equalities Statement and that the terms of reference will have regard to this

·         The LSP will need to consider the extent to which it will engage with the different realms it covers, e.g. the business sector is made up of diverse organisations who may wish to contribute to its work.

The LSP agreed that:

·         It would accept the terms of reference with the inclusion of the following amendments:

-         Insert, “cooperate with the work being undertaken by other partnerships within the area” (7.1), remove “direct the work of partnerships”

-         Insert under the heading of Voluntary and Community Sector (7.1), following Biodiversity, “and green infrastructure”Clarify the difference between any short-life working groups the LSP may choose to set up (7.4) and its relationship with the county-wide strategic partnerships (7.6).

-         Remove the reference to co-opted members (9.2)

-         Amend “the public will attend as observers…” (10.4), taking out the will.

-         Include “the Leaders will give account for the work of the LSP to their respective scrutiny arrangements” and reference to the Joint Scrutiny Protocol of Cambridgeshire Together

·         It was agreed that the final terms of reference should be circulated by email before the next meeting. 

The Chair will receive questions, if presented, from members of the public and invite responses from members, where appropriate.

No public questions were presented to the Chair. 

Gemma Barron (SCDC) will introduce a paper, at pages 9 to 18, outlining an approach to managing the risks for the new LSP. Members are asked to give guidance on developing this work. 

Gemma Barron (SCDC) introduced a paper outlining an approach to managing risk for the new LSP.

The LSP said that:

·         It should only take on the risks associated with its own partnership activities rather than the risks associated with strategic partnerships delivering the LAA – who will have their own form of risk management.

·         The risks identified should be at a high level and reflect up to date information, so that the LSP could respond to a present problem.

The LSP agreed that:

·         It would accept the risk management policy with the inclusion of the following amendments:

-         Insert, “and opportunities” (2.4), at the end of the first sentence.

-         Replace “b. Retention (2.7), with b. Acceptance of.

-         Remove (3.1 b) “…at partnership and partner organisation level” and add in “… where the risks impact on the LSP”.

-         Remove (3.2 b.) “…and the adequacy of risk financing policy.”

-         Reword (3.6)

·         A populated Risk Matrix will be presented to the next meeting.

Graham Saint (City) will introduce a paper, at pages 19-26, showing a proposed timetable and approach for preparing a shared Sustainable Community Strategy for the LSP. Members will be invited to give guidance to officers on the approach they wish to be taken forward.

Graham Saint (City) introduced a paper showing a proposed timetable and approach for preparing a shared sustainable community strategy for the LSP.

The LSP said that:

·         Looking at the existing vision statements, of the present strategies, there appears to be a strong convergence between them.

·         It could either look to prepare a new strategy in the short-term (with a draft to the next meeting), based on an amalgamation of the common issues presented in the existing strategies, so that it could move forward quickly or use the refresh as an opportunity to engage with its stakeholders over a longer time period (replacing the documents in July 2011) and win more support for its content.

·         It wanted to listen to what stakeholders had to say and for the approach to allow issues put forward and to be acknowledged

·         Consultations with stakeholders, shown in the timetable, should begin in September 2010 rather than the August. 

·         The process should look to utilise existing consultations with communities, where possible, and follow the guidelines for consultation in the Cambridgeshire Compact

The LSP agreed that:

·         It accepted the principles for the preparation of the strategy, shown in the paper, and the timetable for preparing the strategy, subject to the delay in the commencement of stakeholder consultation, that will allow the new LSP to engage with its stakeholders.

Richard Hales (SCDC) and Simon Chub (City) will provide a joint presentation outlining some of the adaptive work that will need to take place in the districts in the future to respond to the challenges presented by Climate Change. 

Richard Hales (SCDC) and Simon Chubb (City) provided a joint presentation outlining some of the adaptive work that will need to take place in the districts in the future to respond to the challenges presented by Climate Change.

The LSP said that:

·         The Climate Change Charter and the LSP’s own project to increase the involvement of the local business community in taking steps towards to reduce carbon use, were valuable in taking this work forward.

·         The information contained in the presentation should be shared with the county Resilience Forum

·         In many cases an economic argument can be made for working or using resources in a more climate friendly way.

• Refurbishment of social housing stock may give an opportunity to reduce their environmental impact

The LSP agreed that:

• It would support the setting up of a sub-group by the climate change leads to look at how climate change work across the areas can be shared and what the content of any possible climate change section in a new sustainable community strategy might look like.

LSP members are asked to agree issues they wish to consider in the next few meetings, to improve partnership working and to help identify and resolve any performance problems. A paper showing some proposed presentations and a Forward Plan is at pages 27-32. 

Graham Saint (City Council) invited LSP members to consider issues they would like to discuss at future meetings. A draft Forward Plan, containing items that the LSP’s had previously considered and some suggestions for future presentations, was presented to assist the discussion.

The LSP said that:

·         Emphasis should be given to improving joint working across the district areas – so any future issues considered by the LSP should have the aim of reducing barriers and promoting engagement, e.g. a presentation about crime levels will look at how the CDRP’s could work more closely together.

·         The future of financing of housing was an issue that both districts shared.

·         All LSP partners should be able to contribute to the Forward Plan and the content of the LSP’s agenda so that it can extend beyond the interests of the local authorities.

The LSP agreed that:

• LSP partners be invited to put forward issues for consideration at future meetings and that the Chair use his discretion in pulling together a final draft. 

The LSP agreed that:

• Members will look at the Comprehensive Area Assessment self assessment update, previously circulated, and send any comments to Joana Little by 30 April 2010. 
• Provisional dates for future meetings of the LSP will be circulated.