There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting of Central Mon Area Committee held on 21^st June 2017 were approved and signed by the Chair.

Following on from discussions at the previous meeting, the Chair opened the meeting with an opportunity to reflect on what the committee wish to achieve.  It was felt important to create a sense of direction, rather than solely dealing with matters on an ad-hoc basis.  It was hoped that Town and Community Councils would be included on the same strategy. 

We recognised the distinction between what the area committee could achieve rather than the cluster group, and noted that an understanding between the 2 groups would be helpful.

The starting point for cluster groups stemmed from the Wellbeing Act, set up to gather information from the Wellbeing Assessment.  Whereas area committees provided community engagement, dealing with issues in particular areas.

The Chair suggested we set up a forum to enable and empower Town and Community Councils, providing a guidance toolkit/template.

We heard that Monmouth Town Council are keen to work with any community council, and agreed that clusters could work but needed direction.  MTC had applied for funding with the intention of holding a mini conference for the benefit of Town and Community Councillors, community groups and residents.  The range of matters would include community engagement, innovative practice, all based around the wellbeing framework, all intended to create a vision for Monmouth.

Members raised concerns around the areas included in the clusters, particularly noting the Usk and Monmouth areas.  We heard that Raglan in particular should be in the Monmouth Town Cluster.

It was proposed that, as a committee, we set up 2 forums or working groups, being:

·       Usk Cluster Group Forum

·       Monmouth Town Cluster Group Forum

These groups should meet every 6 weeks to engage existing cluster groups, and create, within the forum, toolkits to enable the clusters to produce special and wellbeing plans.  We recognised that MCC officers need to be on board with the strategy to ensure a central template.

The Chair added that the existing function of the committee to look at specific area issues would remain.  Area Issues to be a standing item on the agenda.