Minutes:
Exeter City Council/Exeter Community Strategy
The Programme Manager Communities updated the Board on City Council initiatives for supporting communities through:-
· Asset Based Community Development - ABCD
ABCD would receive 15% (£3.75 million) of Neighbourhood CIL over 10 years for investment in community building as part of the delivery of Wellbeing Exeter in support of the Community Strategy. The City Council was seeking to support the development of the community strategy through embedding ABCD principles and approach across the whole Council.
· Community Grants
The Community Grants Programme had provided 336 Grants to the value of £1.5 million over two years to 194 organisations under 10 different grant “types” with 50% going to a small number of organisations. It was noted that a far greater value was added on to the benefit of the community through drawing down match funding from other sources, including national schemes. A detailed grant overview was provided showing the 2016/17 and 2017/18 breakdown of grants under the different categories, by individual wards and by activities funded. Members noted the variance in amounts for each ward recognising that this was due in part to the organising capacity and capability of the respective communities, one Member suggesting that an evaluation of the social value of the community projects assisted in this way would be beneficial.
· The Exeter Community Forum and Exeter Community Strategy
Diana Moore thanked the City Council for supporting the development of the Exeter Community Forum and Exeter Community Strategy which was an impressive initiative, emphasising that it had been developed in discussions with community organisations and acknowledging the importance of consultation.
The priorities identified for grant giving were two fold - for communities affected by new housing developments and for areas with high levels of deprivation, with three levels of community capacity building - developing individuals’ skills and resources, encouraging groups to organise and develop grant applications and, at the highest level, a formalised plan for the area. To date, the Community Forum had primarily worked with communities of place but it was the intention to explore how to develop engagement with a community of interest and a community of identity approach. She stated that the Community Form had not, to date, been consulted on Devon County Council’s Community Strategy
Devon County Council Draft Community Strategy
The Devon County Council Communities and Commissioning Manager spoke on the County Council’s draft Community Strategy being brought forward by the County Council’s Communities Team headed by Dr Virginia Pearson. It provided a framework for collaborative action across public, private, voluntary and community sectors and with families and individuals. With increasing demands on local authority resources, the Strategy was intended to encourage increased community capacity and resilience in support of the County Council and wider partners. It was also hoped that it would provoke thought on how public bodies could re-orientate themselves to create the conditions for people to take greater control of issues relevant to them.
The strategy would also help inform how the Council, and its services, could develop ways of working with communities to develop different approaches and services and, potentially explore a different local infrastructure to deliver and resource them.
The Chair asked for wider consultation on the Strategy.
Responding to a Member, who asked a question about the role and work of the Community Builders, Diana Moore stated that theyworked within communities, identifying social resources and helped people develop and provide their own resources. Specifically, in respect of Pinhoe, a second appointment had been made after the first post holder had moved on, the new individual already providing a first response and working with the community, listening and supporting local people to make things happen. She undertook to ensure the community builder contacted the Councillor who would then be in a position to advise her constituents of this contact.
Another Member remarked on the importance for the Community Forum and Community Associations to fully engage with younger people in community building and in developing the Community Strategy and Diana confirmed that young people had been very active through the Alphington Village Hall.
There followed a brief debate on the nature and philosophy of building strong communities and the dynamic between the various parties involved.