Presentation by Diana Moore and Christine Fraser.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Diana Moore, Co-Chair of the Community Forum, to the meeting.
As a member of the Alphington Community Association she referred briefly to recent discussions with the City Council on the planning process and supplementary planning document for the area in light of proposals for residential development. The Association was one of a number of organisations comprising the newly formed Exeter Community Forum. As Co-Chair of the Forum she described its raison d’etre and objectives.
The Forum had been created to provide a stronger voice for all community organisations in the City with now over 25 full members. These organisations could be divided into those which were organisations of place such as Community Associations and communities of interest such as young people’s groups and the BME Forum, some of which were City wide. The Forum was working closely with the City Council’s Community Involvement and Inclusion Officer and the voluntary sector on a Community Development Strategy which, it was hoped, would be in draft form by May 2016.
She welcomed the City Council support for the Forum and it was noted that, with the reductions in local government funding, the emergence of the Forum reflected the increased role for the voluntary sector and communities themselves in helping with services and shaping places. The St James Community Forum, the St. David’s Neighbourhood Partnership and the new Newcourt Community Association were good examples of vibrant community groups active in the City. It was hoped to take advantage of funding available through the Community Infrastructure Levy CIL - 15% or £3.7 million over ten years to be devolved for neighbourhood use earmarked.
She responded as follows to Members’ queries:-
· there were between 25-30 full Members drawn from communities of place with associate members including Exeter Community Initiatives, Transformation Exeter and Exeter CVS, all were welcome to participate in the formulation of the Exeter Community Strategy;
· Information sharing was an important aspect of the Forum and would include all local groups with formal links to be established with the media;
· the potential for appointing a fund raising officer would be investigated;
· remit of Forum would also include stewardship of assets;
· the results of the boundary review could have an impact on the Forum as it could re-define the geographical areas currently covered by community bodies and this would feed into the development of the strategy, as appropriate; and
· recognised that some community groups might emerge in response to single issues and that others could be dominated by pressure groups.
Members welcomed the formation of the Forum, recognising the work of existing associations in Alphington, St. David’s and St. James in particular, and the role the Forum could have in developing best practise especially where areas lacked representation on a community wide basis. Reference was also made to the ‘Exeter City Futures’ project, which was looking to use pioneering technology to solve many of the issues facing the city including transport, energy etc. within which the Forum could have a role.
RESOLVED that the Exeter Community Association be appointed as an Associate Member, one representative to attend meetings.