Agenda item

A report is attached on the Performance Reward Programme. There will be a short presentation from a representative from Regenerate.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson addressed the Panel. She said that she thought that one weakness of Re:Generate was the amount it depends on personal activity for its success. She added that she had met of range of staff over the years with each one apparently re-inventing the wheel and not passing on any information to their successors.

She stated that she felt that £106,000 was an awful lot of money to achieve a community feel good factor and that Radstock in Bloom could tick all the boxes in the report for £16,000. She added that currently on a budget of around £12,000 donated by Radstock Town Council, Radstock Traders, Radco, individuals and voluntary bodies we achieve a far higher level of community involvement.

She said that in earlier reports the Council had been told about ‘300 pledges’ made on the doorsteps of Radstock, but she was unaware that any had come to fruition. She added that a lot of promises have been made that simply could not have been delivered.

She concluded by strongly urging that the contract for Re:Generate be terminated immediately in relation to Radstock.

Councillor Charles Gerrish referred the Panel to section 5.4 of the report which mentioned Keynsham South but not Keynsham North although he was sure work had taken place in the area. He added that feedback on projects had reduced quite considerably recently.

The Group Manager, Partnership Delivery replied that work had indeed taken place in Keynsham North and apologised for the omission.

It was noted that Andy Thomas – Group Manager Partnership Delivery would contact Councillor Gerrish with information regarding feedback on the Re:generate work done in Keynsham.

The Chairman invited Nick and Rob from Re:Generate to give their presentation to the Panel. A copy of the presentation can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book and is also available online as an attachment to these minutes. A brief summary is set out below.

Re:Generate began in 2008 working in Whiteway. We developed the following two projects.

Changes - A community group leads children and young people's activities in an area where YP and families were disengaged from Council services.

Doorstep - A social enterprise that addresses fly-tipping and works with Council partners.

Big Local, Radstock - Shared headline needs from listenings to be mapped onto their findings to inform spending. Supported on Steering Group, now the Partnership.

Foxhill - Helped set up facebook page and website for community engagement and information sharing. Plans are also underway to hold a Sports Day for young people on 30^th August.

They aim to empower, inform and influence people and organisations and provide a lasting legacy.

Councillor Roger Symonds commented that he felt there was a need for staff within Re:Generate to stay in post for a longer time to complete proposed projects. He added that Curo had done a lot work locally in Combe Down and didn’t necessarily feel the Council were getting value for money from Re:Generate.

Councillor Cherry Beath commented that there was a need for Re:Generate staff to work closer with Ward Members. She added that she was not sure how many true outcomes had been achieved by Re:Generate over the past three years in Combe Down.

Nick from Re:Generate replied that in 2012, central government funded  for one year only 5 additional Community Organisers in Foxhill and Odd Down, Radstock; and  Timsbury, Farmborough and Camerton. He added that Re:Generate supported them for a further year following that with no funding. He said that this was a part of a national programme to train 500 Community Organisers.

He stated that he believed they have additional capacity to help locally.

Councillor Barry Macrae commented that he was concerned with the amount of Council resources that was being put into this work.

Councillor Nigel Roberts commented that he was aware of some of their successful work in Southdown, but had also heard that a lack of continuity had not helped in some other areas.

Councillor David Bellotti, Cabinet Member for Community Resources said that he took the comments made by the Panel seriously and would discuss the matter with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet. He added that maybe in hindsight it would’ve been an idea to have approached a large voluntary group such as the YMCA to aid with training and supervision.

He said that youth work within Keynsham Town Council was very good and that he would advocate using the successful Time Out project as support.

Councillor Charles Gerrish reiterated his earlier point that it was an absence of feedback that he felt was leaving Councillors with a lack of knowledge and therefore called for greater engagement from Re:Generate.

Councillor Paul Myers commented that he felt there was currently a real lack of success stories from the effort being put in. He suggested that an on-going assessment of the project was required.

Rob from Re:Generate said that one of their main roles was to empower residents to work with others and that he felt they had achieved that.

Nick from Re:Generate added that he was proud of the work they had achieved so far.

The Strategic Director of Resources said that the Council should look to learn from this experience and ask the Cabinet to look at the matter further to see where improvements can be made.

The Chairman thanked the representatives from Re:Generate for attending and their presentation.