Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 To provide the Executive with a revised draft Community Strategy for Bath & North East Somerset in order to allow for recommendations to be made to Council with respect to the adoption of the strategy

2 RECOMMENDATION

That the Executive recommend to Council

2.1 That it adopt the Appendix to this report as the Community Strategy for Bath & North East Somerset, to inform the Council's future plans and strategies, subject to consideration of any views expressed by the Local Strategic Partnership at its meeting on 11 November

2.2 That it delegate to officers, working with partner agencies and in consultation with the Council Leader as appropriate, the making of textual amendments as may be necessary during the course of document design and preparation for publication, and in order to achieve the Crystal Mark standard

2.3 That it resolves to place on record its thanks to the partners and other stakeholders who have played a key role in developing the strategy

The Executive further requests officers to

2.4 Prepare future reports which provide updates on the monitoring and review of the strategy, and on the work of the Local Strategic Partnership

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 A sum of £32,000 is available in the Financial Plan for 2003/4 to provide for the development and production of a Community Strategy for Bath and North East Somerset. Delivery of the Community Strategy over the longer term will depend on a wide range of partners and agencies aligning their corporate planning with the themes contained in the strategy.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 The Local Government Act 2000 places a duty on councils to produce Community Strategies for the promotion of well being in their areas and to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in the UK. This links with new powers for councils to promote social, economic and environmental well being. An effective community strategy should:

· Allow local communities to articulate needs and aspirations over the long-term

· Co-ordinate actions of the Council and public and voluntary organisations to meet these needs, including the shaping of future activity; and

· Provide for monitoring and review

4.2 In Bath and North East Somerset a Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) was established in June 2002 to develop a strategy and promote partnership working. The Leader of the Council chairs the LSP and the Council has been a key contributor to the development of the strategy. The draft strategy has now been the subject to extensive consultation, including:

· Wide distribution of a pack of materials on the draft strategy to key stakeholders, including Town and Parish Councils. The pack was circulated to all Bath & North East Somerset Councillors.

· A series of 9 Community Roadshows in the following locations: Bath - Guildhall / Snowhill / Twerton, Keynsham -Queen's Road and Ashton Way, Peasedown St John, Bishop Sutton, Pensford and Midsomer Norton.

· A dedicated website www.beintouch.org.uk containing the full strategy and providing a questionnaire for feedback

· Use of the I-Plus on-street kiosks to allow for instant feedback

· Use of roadside hoardings, back of bus and inside of bus advertising to promote the strategy and invite comments

· Use of display literature and a summary leaflet in key council and partner buildings which are accessible to the public

· Wide circulation of postcards with a reply address to seek comments

· An advertisement and feedback form within Council News

· Editorial coverage in the local press - linked to Press "Theme Weeks" for the priority themes of the Strategy- alongside radio interviews and associated publicity

4.3 Following this consultation period, the Executive resolved at its meeting on 1^st October to request officers to work with partners to develop revisions to the draft Community Strategy, based on the feedback received and focussing on a range of identified key issues. It also requested that appropriate links be made in the Community Strategy to emerging planning frameworks, including the Corporate Plan and Town and Parish Plans.

4.4 The consultation feedback and key issues identified by the Executive have now been considered in detail by the LSP Community Strategy Task Group. As well as the consultation feedback, the Task Group also took into account a wide variety of issues raised by partners, as well as the shared themes that have been identified through the process of developing the strategy. The revised draft attached in the Appendix will be recommended by the Task Group for adoption by the LSP at its meeting on 11 November. The Corporate Issues and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Panel will also receive a report on progress on the strategy at its meeting on 13 November. The main changes from the consultation draft are:

· The adoption of a new shared theme "Be Distinctive" to reflect the special nature of the places and communities that comprise Bath & North East Somerset. It is important to stress that the community strategy is deigned address the specific local concerns and issues within Bath & North East Somerset. This theme also links to a stronger emphasis on protecting and enhancing the environmental heritage, both built and natural, of the area and on reflecting a "sense of place"

· Improved focus on the "liveability" agenda and on the quality of the public realm. Specific links to the shared theme relating to community safety have also been strengthened

· References to the Local Plan and Local Development Frameworks to reflect research into good practice as set out in the ODPM paper "Developing Effective Relationships between Community Strategies and Local Development Frameworks".

· The incorporation of specific references to the development of Town and Parish Plans

· Identification of clear "early actions" in order to "unlock" improvement across the community strategy's themes.

· The redrafting of aspirations to reflect feedback and to provide greater focus- for example, the adoption of a clear with regard to equalities

· Revision of performance information to reflect the need to measure improvement themes identified as important in the strategy. The amount of performance has been reduced to provide more focus. Whilst baseline information is provided, further work on agreeing ambitious and realistic targets will take place following further work with partners and following publication of national data which will allow for comparisons with other areas areas.

4.5 It is important to produce a clear document that reflects the shared aims of the LSP and of the community as a whole. Throughout the document, signposts are presented to relevant plans and partners. To be successful, the strategy will need to set a framework for the corporate plans and strategies of a wide range of local agencies. The Council has acted as a catalyst for this process by ensuring that the Corporate Plan (also on the agenda for this Executive meeting) has been developed in the light of the themes for improvement contained within the community strategy.

4.6 Once the strategy has been approved, further work will be carried out on the design of the final document as well as on an application for the Crystal Mark Plain English standard. It is also intended that a range of background documents will be made available, including summaries, detailed analyses of consultation used in formulating the strategy and a "map" of plans and partnerships in Bath & North East Somerset. A Glossary of Terms will also be attached to the main document. An Annual Report on progress will be prepared which will also be used to identify emerging issues and trends not covered in the strategy. Further arrangements to reporting on delivery of the strategy will be developed, in conjunction with the LSP and linked to the Council's own corporate planning arrangements.