Agenda item

Verbal update.

With reference to paragraph 4.2 of the Minute of 7 September 2017, Jenni Craig, SBC Service Director Customer & Communities, gave an update on operation of the Area Partnerships and development of the Locality Plans.  The Area Partnerships had been launched in January 2018, with each taking ownership of a Locality Plan.  These Locality Plans were structured around the same themes as the Community Plan, and were each living documents which would be built and changed as required.  There had been 3 cycles of meetings of the Area Partnerships to date, with the style of the meetings very much focussed on conversations and action planning rather than presentational.  This was to try to make meetings more engaging so that people were encouraged to come along and sit round small tables and join in discussions.  There had been some positive feedback from those who had attended meetings, although some felt that there was something lacking from the previous Area Forums.  The Community Council network and some Community Councils had also provided comments, so a survey of all Community Councils was planned.  There was a commitment to review Area Partnerships by summer 2019, but information for that review would start to be gathered from now.  The meetings of the Area Partnerships (14 so far) had produced a lot of information and now actions needed to be developed to show how priorities would be taken forward.  This should demonstrate that those people who had attended and contributed to the meetings were being listened to and involved in outcomes.  There was a need to look at how best to encourage different groups to attend meetings e.g. young people, or if they were not attending meetings personally to be able to engage digitally.  It was hoped that Locality Plans would be fully developed by the end of the year, with their content being brought to the planned Workshop in the autumn for all Community Planning partners, and then feeding up to the wider Community Plan.  Councillor Aitchison commended the officers for their work in getting the Area Partnerships up and running.  The aim of the Council was to try to change the whole way it communicated with communities, while accepting there was a need to change the perception of what the Council could and could not do.  This was reflected in the Council’s new Corporate Plan and #yourpart.  Colin McGrath, Chairman of the Community Councils Network, referred to some confusion between Community Planning Locality Plans and the Health & Social Care Locality Plans, and suggested that the Community Hubs for health and social care could also be used for Community Planning locality work.  Shona Smith, SBC Communities & Partnership Manager, advised that the aspiration was to combine any partner locality plans into one Locality Plan for each area in future, with work already started with Police and Fire & Rescue local plans to do just that.  Tim Patterson, Director of Public Health, commented that the big advantage in producing the Health and Social Care Locality Plans had been engaging all the expertise with the public, with good ideas coming forward.  The Plan gave a framework in which to enter into dialogue with communities, and while there was some concern that it would not be possible to meet all expectations, it would also stop resources being spent on services people did not want.

Noted.  

Note:  Alistair McKinnon left the meeting.