Agenda item

          To consider a report updating the Advisory Panel on the development of Local Area Partnerships as developed through a Multi Agency Officer Group and internal Member Working Group, and next steps.

Consideration was given to a report updating the Panel on the development of Local Area Partnerships, as developed through a Multi Agency Officer Group and internal Member Working Group and also relating to the next steps.

It was noted that the Cheshire East Council needed to put in place arrangements to demonstrate how it would meet the People and Places bid commitments and ensure that there were mechanisms in place to enable the Cheshire East Council to respond to the needs and priorities expressed by local communities.  It was, therefore, important for the Panel to understand the broader context for this area of work and current developments.

It was reported that, in an attempt to move the thinking forward, a Multi Agency Officer Group and Cross Party Member Working Group had been formed to ensure early “buy in” of both Members and partners to any new approaches to local working.  To date, these groups had formulated an outline model or framework for how partnership working at strategic, tactical and operational level would fit together; developed a series of principles to underpin area and neighbourhood working and drafted outline terms of reference for the Local Area Partnerships, based on the original People and Places concept of Area Programme Boards. These documents were appended to the report.  The groups had also considered suitable boundaries for the Local Area Partnerships, based upon three potential building blocks - ward boundaries, parish council boundaries and super output areas.

The work completed to date had been presented to a Key Stakeholder Event on 27 November. Further discussion and development of the proposals would continue during December and January, through a Member Stakeholder event to take place on 16 December and local Town and Parish Council events on 20, 27 and 28 January and a Second Partner event, targeting current LSP partners, also during January.

In considering the report, Members of the Panel raised the following issues:

(i)      It was noted that, within the Crewe area, there were a number of successful Neighbourhood Forums and that these worked well.  It was suggested that the Neighbourhood Forums could be expanded.  The Performance and Capacity Portfolio Holder stated that there was no intention to stop current neighbourhood working, but attempts were being made to put a structure in place to lead local issues.  It was felt that the Neighbourhood Forums were management/service delivery units and how they were managed within individual Districts would depend on the area concerned, however, it would be necessary to monitor how services were delivered.

(ii)   Concern was expressed in respect of the boundaries for the Local Area Partnerships in that Disley and Adlington had been placed together. It was noted that the lines on the boundary map would be subject to further debate.  It was considered that the boundaries should be worked around the Town and Parish Council boundaries, in order to provide democratic accountability.  It was also noted that there might be different boundaries for community and service delivery.  It was noted that the Cheshire East Council would be considering a report in respect of the proposed Local Area Partnerships, including boundaries, at its meeting in February.  It was considered that the boundaries should be agreed in advance of the Council meeting.  Reference was also made to the Police boundaries and it was noted that the Police would be prepared to move their boundaries, subject to there being a maximum of six.