Agenda item

Context:

To update Members on the findings of the Community Governance Review and the conclusions of the Lessons Learnt review of the implementation of Whole Place in Severnside and Bryn y Cwm.

          Key Issues:

KEY ISSUES:

As members will be aware Community governance within Monmouthshire has been delivered through four Area Committees which were designed as an opportunity for communities to be involved in local democracy. No decision making is delegated to the Area Committees but it does provide an opportunity for issues of local concern to be raised and debated.

The implementation of Whole Place has resulted in an additional tier of local governance which sits outside the Council’s Area Committee process.

Programme Boards have been established in Severnside and Bryn y Cwm and they manage the delivery of the local plan. They are made up of elected

County, Community and Town councillors and representatives from community organisations.

The overlapping and complicated structures have led to dissatisfaction amongst community stakeholders. The loss of the Area Manager roles and the implementation of the Whole Place team has resulted in less clarity between the administrative processes and delivery frameworks set up to support community governance. An additional complication is caused by each area committee having been allocated a capital sum of £5,000 to allocate within its geographical boundary. This was previously managed on behalf of the Area Committees by the Area Managers, however these posts were deleted and currently no agreed process exists for the allocation, distribution and management of these grants.

Recognising these concerns a Community Governance Review was commissioned and following a tender exercise Keith Edwards was appointed to undertake this review in March of this year. The purpose of the review was to reflect on the experience of the dual processes to date and identify opportunities for a more streamlined and effective approach to delivery.

The conclusions of this review have now been documented in a report entitled Whole Place and Community Governance in Monmouthshire. The report outlines twelve recommendations around reducing complexity, having more clearly defined roles and responsibilities and streamlining local governance structures. There is also an associated action plan entitled Key Challenges and Potential Responses.

The twelve recommendations are summarised as follows:

Monmouthshire County Council will implement the recommendations of the report to enable a simpler local governance framework with clear lines of accountability and responsibility and provide access to funds to support local priorities.

Terms of reference for each group integral to Whole Place will be developed in partnership and outlined in a single document.

Monmouthshire re-align Whole Place internally, developing streamlined decision processes, inter department working and embedding corporate responsibility for the delivery of this agenda.

Elected Members to undertake a local leadership role in engaging communities to deliver Whole Place. This involves replacing Area Committees with an annual joint Member/Programme Board summit, surgeries and the appointment of an Elected Member as a Whole Place Champion in each area who will sit on the Programme Board and updating Council.

Review of Programme Boards, their memberships, remits and how they relate to the Council and their community. Re-inforce the importance of Town and Community Councils in the delivery of Whole Place through Programme Board membership.

Town and Community Councils should build on existing networks and share resources.

Re-inforce the independence of Community Forums and help build self-reliance.

Programme Boards need to audit the engagement with excluded groups and produce an action plan to address deficits.

Process for identifying new initiative and fast tracking their consideration and approval should be considered, whilst ensuring that it still meets all the legal and financial accountability tests.

The Council should review Whole Place support and resources and ensure it aligns with community hubs and developing more area based services.

The Whole Place team should work with communities to co-design the service.

During the summer, Whole Place officers undertook a review of the implementation of the Whole Place Plan in Severnside and Bryn y Cwm. A total of 10 interviews were undertaken with 4 representatives from Severnside and 6 from Bryn y Cwm. Given the limited number of participants, it is difficult to generalise these as the general conclusions of all stakeholders, however similar themes did emerge:

Engagement needs to be wider and deeper and include youth and those with disabilities.

Process should be led by the Council with clear levels of responsibility from Officers and Members.

Better communication on the process and the implementation of the plan

The plans should embrace the whole area and avoid being town centric.

There should be a delivery mechanism in place that provides support for groups delivering project strands (this should be officer time and finance).

The plans and their delivery mechanism should have been implemented much quicker.

Member Scrutiny:

A Member commented on the confusion with Community Groups at present and felt that the recommendations in the report did not help to clarify. Concerns were raised regarding the lack of involvement with Elected Members.

It was mentioned by a Member that they felt that the report had an Abergavenny bias, with little reference to rural areas. The Member also voiced concerns that local Members were becoming disenfranchised by lack of involvement.

The Committee asked if the Town and Community Charter still existed. The Officer answered that they had met with One Voice Wales to discuss the Charter, and it was believed that the Charter had become outdated and that a county wide charter did not reflect the needs of individual areas. It was also mentioned that over the last 2 year there had been meetings of the County Liaison Team, where Town, Community and County Councillors meet and the lead representative from the Community Council had received a letter from the Minister for Public Services, Leyton Andrews who was advocating working at a more local level.

The Committee questioned if there would be different models for each local area. The Officer confirmed that each locality will be consulted, via public meetings, community groups and information stands in local areas, i.e. hospitals, garden centres and local high streets. This will allow for framework to be adapted locally.

A Member commented that they were aware of finical constraints, however they felt that MCC could be performing better with better quality control systems in place.