Agenda item

Cabinet was asked to consider the recommendations of the rapid review into Community Boards undertaken by the Communities and Localism Select Committee.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the Community Board Rapid Review Group, as well as the supporting officers, be thanked for their work and subsequent recommendations.

(2)          That Cabinet’s responses to the review and recommendations, as set out and circulated to Members, be noted.

Note: a complete breakdown of the scrutiny recommendations and Cabinet’s responses can be found here.

Councillor M Harker, Chairman of the Communities and Localism Select Committee attended the meeting to present the findings and recommendations of the rapid review into Community Boards.  The Select Committee had agreed to establish the review in December 2021.  After some initial discussions across the wider Select Committee, a smaller group of councillors had volunteered to participate in further evidence gathering meetings with a number of stakeholders, which took place across two consecutive days in March 2022.  The review group had been chaired by Councillor Mimi Harker and comprised of Councillors Bass, Cooper, Mahon, G Smith, L Smith, and Waite.  Following the evidence gathering meetings the review group had then met to discuss and agree its key findings and recommendations, which were detailed in Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report.

Cabinet considered their responses to the scrutiny review and commented or raised the following points during discussion:

·                    The Cabinet Member for Communities thanked the review group for their report and stated that a number of these recommendations had already been adopted in the Localism service review and that they would work on the other recommendations to ensure that they too were implemented.

·                    Being a Community Board Chairman required a unique skill set. The Member Working Group had been working on refresh training for Members which included a chairing skills module which was mandatory for chairmen but also recommended for all councillors as many have chairing roles in the community. The Select Committee Chairman agreed that leadership skills were essential for this front facing role and bringing together all partners working towards a common goal. The Leader commented that Community Boards were the foundation in which the Council could act locally and in partnership with other organisations. However, sometimes competing demands could be challenging with service requirements and local needs.

·                    Clarification was given that this would be reviewed on an annual basis as Community Boards would evolve over time and as can be seen from the pandemic it was important to be able to be flexible to meet local and national issues.

·                    Concern was raised about using Community Board funding for a highway scheme which was not a priority for the Council. However, it was noted that it was also important for Community Boards to have some funding so that they could make their own decisions about what highways schemes were a priority for local residents even though these schemes did not meet the criteria for highway schemes at a corporate level.

·                    A Cabinet Member welcomed that there would be autonomy of funding for Community Boards to agree their own priorities.

·                    Better communications regarding the work of Community Boards was welcomed and a suggestion was made that parish magazines would be a good way of publicising meetings and the work of Boards.

·                    It was important that small groups could benefit from Community Board funding even though they did not have a bank account.  Clarification was given that contributory funding was encouraged but this could only be a small amount. This enabled the Council to work in partnership with local organisations to deliver projects.

·                    The Cabinet Member for Transport reported that they were working on the new transport contract award for April 2023. They were currently looking at the framework for service delivery and were particularly looking at improving transparency of costs and timings which should help the processing of Community Board projects.

Cabinet Members thanked Local Members and Community Board Co-ordinators for everything they had delivered locally particularly during challenging times. Their hard work was appreciated. The Community Board Annual Report would detail some of the work that had been delivered which was being discussed at Full Council on 18 May 2022. The Select Committee Chairman thanked Cabinet Members for their response and commented that it was important to be as proactive as possible in raising awareness of the work of Community Boards. She also commented on the delivery of highway schemes and emphasised the importance of managing expectations in terms of funding and what could be delivered.

Cabinet Members agreed their response to the Community Board Rapid Review Group recommendations.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the Community Board Rapid Review Group, as well as the supporting officers, be thanked for their work and subsequent recommendations.

(2)          That Cabinet’s responses to the review and recommendations, as set out and circulated to Members, be noted.

Note: a complete breakdown of the scrutiny recommendations and Cabinet’s responses can be found here.