Agenda item

Neighbourhood Working: A new Approach for Sheffield

Report of the Head of Libraries and Community Services.

Minutes:

9.1

The Committee received a presentation outlining the initial thinking on a new approach to neighbourhood level working in Sheffield which would enhance the existing Local Area Partnership (LAPs) and bring greater focus on developing community resilience across the City.

 

 

9.2

In attendance for this item were Councillor Jack Scott (Cabinet Member for Community Services and Libraries) and Laurie Brennan (Policy and Improvement Manager).

 

 

9.3

Councillor Jack Scott introduced the presentation and stated that the LAP Chairs had been given the presentation the previous day and following feedback, it was his intention to present the model for a new approach to Neighbourhood Working to all Members of the City Council.   He said a useful focus for the session would be three areas,   if the analysis was correct in terms of current challenges with LAP system, whether the principles were right (and anything people don’t agree with) and suggestions about how to move forward.

 

 

9.4

Laurie Brennan outlined the two main strands to effective Neighbourhood Working, the first being community leadership, empowerment and engagement, and secondly, public service delivery.  He stated that that the current model was working well but there was a need to build on it by strengthening community leadership and community resilience.  He outlined the challenges faced by Councillors and communities with LAPs and stated that due to the reduction in funding, there was a need for a community framework to ensure co-ordinated local service provision from the City Council, its partners and the voluntary sector. He went on to suggest that the way forward was to consider a number of options on how to deliver an enhanced approach to neighbourhood working, to submit a proposal to Cabinet in the next few months and then review the new model after one year.

 

 

9.5

Councillor Jack Scott summed up by stating that there were approximately 50 different models that you could choose from and the Council needed to develop the model that was right for Sheffield and there was an expectation for everyone to get involved to make it happen.

 

 

9.6

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions, to which responses were provided as follows:-

 

 

9.7

·                     Meetings could be held jointly with housing providers and local Area Housing Fora.

 

 

 

·                     Not everything was about where funding was used, but rather the way things were done.

 

 

 

·                     Perhaps the LAPs were too big and communities might struggle to identify with them.

 

 

 

·                     There was a need to get communities more involved, not only by attending local meetings but by being more flexible across Ward boundaries.

 

 

 

·                     It was felt that austerity over the past few years had been designed to set people against each other and this was something that needed to be addressed.

 

 

 

·                     Officers had looked at best practice and worst practice in other cities regarding what worked and what didn’t.

 

 

 

·                     The budget for LAPs was £600,000, half of which was put into Ward “pots”.  It was felt that there was a need to maintain individual Ward pots, with a separate pot of money being set aside for Sheffield-wide initiatives, which could be used in agreement with LAP Chairs and the Cabinet Member.

 

 

 

·                     Councillor Scott was preparing five or six bullet points on how being a Member in this new system would feel and what it would look like and this would be circulated to the Committee .

 

 

 

·                     The model would be reviewed after 12 months.

 

 

9.8

RESOLVED: That this Committee:-

 

 

 

(a)       thanks Councillor Jack Scott and Laurie Brennan for their contribution to the meeting;

 

 

 

(b)       notes the contents of the presentation and the responses to questions;

 

 

 

(c)        notes that a report on the new approach to Neighbourhood Working  in Sheffield was to be submitted to Cabinet in the near future;

 

 

 

(d)       notes that there would be at least one session for all Councillors on the new approach to Neighbourhood Working in Sheffield; and

 

 

 

(e)       agrees that an update at around 3-6 months into implementation be given and this would be added to the draft Work Programme for 2017-18.

 

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