Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Communities presented the report which provided the background on the progression and performance of the Community Boards during 2022-2023 and highlighted the achievements of the Boards over the year.

The Cabinet Member advised that it had been a successful third year of operation for the Boards with it becoming evident that the Boards had found their place in their respective areas and were working as originally planned, engaging with local communities to identify and deliver change and improvements for residents.

The Boards had made significant progress in collaborating with a wide range of partners and stakeholders through building relationships and networks, which had helped to strengthen their communities and support them in achieving their aspirations.  Relationships with the majority of town and parish councils were good with real partnership working and engagement taking place. Many Board Managers operated from town and parish offices/facilities, ensuring their faces were known and this provided opportunities for residents to come and speak with them.  Regular meetings were held with nearly all town/parishes, with open doors to others who may not have the time or wish to engage at present.

Through engaging with a range of local partners and without providing funding, the Boards were playing a crucial role in facilitating activities to improve the local community, including setting up a repair café, tree planting schemes, and a community hub to attract investment and provide facilities for groups. The amount of engagement work was high, and whilst not every piece of engagement could be recorded, a strong list of examples was included in the annual report.

Board's priorities had been aligned to those of the council but at a very local level.  These included improving health and wellbeing, supporting young people, enhancing the environment and communities. Additionally, the Boards had effectively responded to new areas of priority such as addressing the cost of living crisis, supporting Ukraine and Opportunity Bucks.

Three of the Boards covered the ward areas being focused on through the Opportunity Bucks programme. With oversight through the Community Board, Ward Partnerships had been established in these areas and were identifying key local challenges and issues.  In line with the aims of the Community Boards and the Opportunity Bucks programme, action plans were being developed to address these challenges. For all six Wycombe wards these action plans had been agreed and work had commenced. Work was continuing to develop the plans for the three Aylesbury wards and one Chesham ward.

During 2021/22 a review of Community Boards had been undertaken which involved a Member Task & Finish Group and a Scrutiny Review, a number of actions had been identified which had now been delivered. The changes had led to quicker and clearer decision making across the service, provided stability across the function of the Boards and quicker funding decisions. A successful small grants process was also introduced which had seen much smaller organisations able to deliver Board priorities.

During 2022/23, the Boards had begun to move away from what was perceived as grant giving Boards to focus on projects that were identified through the discussions at the Boards. The local priorities were identified through the Boards and a high number of projects to deliver the priorities were now being established and delivered through Board action groups.

Several Boards had taken the opportunity to deliver projects together to bring wider benefits to communities or secure better value for money. For example, the Growing Hope clinic provided speech and language sessions for non-verbal children across two boards. Several Boards worked together to deliver a virtual dementia tour experience, and there was a lot of joint working on Christmas food hampers and Christmas gifts.

Boards continued to have the flexibility to work as they wish, using action or task/finish groups as required, and each Board worked to suit their communities allowing for organic growth under the governance in place.

The overall management of the budgets and performance data had vastly improved, with clear and accurate record keeping. Value for money had continued to be a key challenge to the Boards with all projects over £1k now looking to attract contributory funding. For every £1 of Council money the Boards had been able to generate an average of £1.02 in contributory funding, with some individual Boards attracting over £2 per Council £1.

The Cabinet Member also highlighted the unseen added value from engagement work and that there was a focus on the project budgets and operational costs. Details of more substantial engagement work were included at the end of the report.

Going forward it was important that this work was showcased and credited to the Boards, as often it was a local conversation linking the right people together to discuss mutual issues which resulted in not just change, but ongoing relationships and partnerships.

Many board meetings were now taking place in person and directly engaging with partners and residents. Attendance at these meetings was growing, and those attending were made to feel included and provided with an opportunity to ask questions, contribute, or offer views and opinions.

With the proposed boundary changes to electoral Wards which would take effect from 2025, a review would be undertaken in 2023 to understand the impact of these changes on the Board geographies. The review would also consider the overheads attached to the Boards as well as understanding the social value of the Board’s work.

The Cabinet Member thanked Community Board Chairmen, Vice-Chairmen, Board Members and Community Board Managers who had put in such great work and shown dedication in ensuring 2022/23 provided an excellent foundation to build on for the coming year.  He also thanked Councillor S Bowles for his work as the Cabinet Member for Communities over the last 2 years.

The Cabinet Member responded to a number of queries as follows:

-                      That he would come back to the Member on whether there was a low take up of lottery funding in Wycombe.

-                      That the Small Grants scheme providing funding of up to £1K to community and voluntary groups had been introduced to support a resilient voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector in Buckinghamshire and to fund the entire cost of small one-off projects.

-                      That the Communities team would continue to monitor projects to ensure they were delivered within budget.

-                      That whilst funding would continue to be available to Boards to support some local projects, their main purpose was moving to being a facilitator / place shaper within communities.  Much of this was easier to achieve through face-to-face engagement.

-                      That he was supportive of the best practices from some Boards being rolled out to other Boards.

RESOLVED –

That the achievements of the Community Boards in 2022-2023 be noted.