Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Fullarton, welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the Berwickshire Area Partnership and referred to the Community Councils, Partners and local organisations represented at this event.  The Chief Executive of Berwickshire Housing Association, Helen Forsyth was unable to attend due to illness and the Chairman read out a message from her - “Berwickshire Housing Association is committed to the Locality Plan and will seek to develop and implement strategies that will meet the goals outlined in the Community Plan for the Scottish Borders.  We will hope to be invited again to the Partnership to discuss these in more detail.   It is our intention that our Business Plan, which is in draft at present, will reflect the aspirations of the Locality Plan where appropriate and feasible.”

To set the scene for how the new Area Partnership will develop.

https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/info/20015/your_council/472/area_partnerships

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods and Locality Services, Councillor Aitchison, set the scene for how the new Area Partnership would develop.  He explained that Area Partnerships would bring together key organisations, groups, businesses and individuals from across the public, private and third sectors and from within the local communities to work together to identify what the issues and priorities were for each Area.  This first meeting of the Berwickshire Area Partnership would be provide an introduction to the new format of meeting, provide some context to both community planning and locality planning, as well as an overview of grants and funding.  Future Area Partnership meetings would be themed to help discuss and debate issues in a more manageable way.

An overview of the Scottish Borders Community Plan and the development of the Berwickshire Locality Plan.

https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/yourcommunityplan

Jenni Craig, Service Director for Customer and Communities, explained that the introduction of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 had seen the Scottish Borders Community Planning Partnership publish a Community Plan to address Borders-wide challenges and opportunities.  Copies of the Community Plan were included in the information packs provided at the meeting.  At a local level, Area Partnerships would take forward the development of Locality Plans.  Meetings of the Area Partnership were the opportunity to participate in an informal discussion about the challenges and issues affecting the Berwickshire area.  There were four main themes of the Community Plan, namely: our Economy, Skills & Learning; our Health and Wellbeing; our Quality of Life; and our Place.  An additional theme of Community Transport had been identified as a priority issue for Berwickshire and had therefore been added to the Community Plan.

Discussion looking at emerging issues in Berwickshire across the themes of the Community Plan and setting priorities for future Area Partnership meetings.

The Chairman invited those present to discuss at their tables the emerging issues in

Berwickshire across the themes identified in paragraph 3 above and to write these down on the post-it notes provided.  From the responses, it was clear that the debate had included issues, challenges and opportunities across all five themes, with ‘Economy Skills and Learning’ emerging as the priority theme for discussion at the next meeting of the Berwickshire Area Partnership.  This feedback was summarised and attached as the Appendix to this Minute.

An overview and update on what grants and funding streams are available to local communities, as well as an update on the Localities Bid Fund.

Shona Smith, Communities and Partnership Manager, summarised the grants and

funding streams available to local communities and introduced the Scottish Borders

Council team of officers who could provide further information and assistance. She also gave an update on the Localities Bid Fund in the Berwickshire Area where there were 10 projects being put forward to a public vote which would take place from 1 to 28 February 2018.   In response to questions, Ms Smith explained that there were security measures in place to avoid duplicity of voting and that only votes cast with an accompanying post code would be counted.  She also advised that

future adjustments in terms of funding allocation could be made if it was found that projects from communities with a low population were at a significant disadvantage in the voting process.  On receipt by Scottish Borders Council, applications to the Localities Bid Fund were assessed to ensure that the forms had been completed in full and that they met all the required criteria before going forward to the vote.

There was a general discussion about where future Berwickshire Area Partnership meetings would be held.  The start time was also discussed and representatives were given the opportunity to identify the most convenient for them to attend meetings and could also comment about meeting arrangements on the evaluation forms.  The next meeting would be held at Eyemouth High School in East Berwickshire, starting at 6.30pm on a date still to be confirmed but this was likely to be mid-March 2018.  Further information would be circulated in due course. Arrangements for future meetings could be changed based on feedback from the evaluation forms; currently, the meeting after March was scheduled for Thursday 7June 2018 (time and venue to be confirmed.)  The Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and looked forward to the future development of the Berwickshire Area Partnership.