Scottish Borders Council

Agenda item

Fit for 2024: Review of Area Partnerships and Community Fund

Consider actions for the Berwickshire Area Partnership for the review of Area Partnerships and the Community Fund.  (Summary of the reports attached.)

Minutes:

4.1       There had been circulated summaries of the Council reports.  Jenni Craig, Service Director Customer & Communities, gave a presentation on the review and outlined the actions and next steps.  A series of questions of the future of the Area Partnership and how the Community Fund might work were shared to aid the discussion.  The Chairman commented on .the small number present at the meeting but asked if they would share their views. 

 

4.2       The following points were made:-

 

·           Workshop in October 2019 by SCDC was very good, with a lot of discussion, so it may be difficult to have an open meeting to get to the bottom of what where some quite complicated issues around the future working of the Area Partnership

·           Not sure about the difference between having the Area Partnership as a Council committee or not, as much depended on the purpose of the Partnership

·           It would be helpful to have a Sub-Group set up to look in more detail at the questions and tease out the differences between the previous forms of committee in Berwickshire

·           There needed to be opportunities given to shape the agendas

·           Was the Area Partnership the owner of the Locality Plan?

·           Whatever format the future Area Partnership took, it had to be the owner of the Locality Plan.  This would be really important going forward with regard to “Place” planning, South of Scotland Enterprise, etc. 

·           Meetings should be more representative of communities both in terms of membership and attendance, and should not just comprise SBC members and Community Councillors but other community group representation

·           The purpose of the current Area Partnership was not clear and seemed to be dominated by the Council telling everyone in the community what was happening

·           People of Berwickshire were not enthused by the current Area Partnership and buy in from the public was needed

·           There was quite a mix in Berwickshire between larger towns and rural villages

·           One size should not fit all across the Borders in terms of the future of Area Partnerships in the 5 localities

·           As many people as possible needed to be involved

·           Covid response in communities had brought people and communities together

·           It would not be possible to have representatives from every community group but key members needed to be identified

·           This was  a partnership and so should have equal representation from the Council, Community Councils and the Third Sector, with the Council facilitating meetings

·           The community had to be involved in the Partnership on an equal basis

·           Community planning was important at a local level and someone had to monitor that

·           The Area Partnership was too big to have a proper discussion and a Sub-Group should be formed to look at the way forward, with potentially themed Sub-Groups formed in the future to consider specific issues and report back to the main Partnership as there were too many issues to be covered in a single meeting.  This would allow the real voices to be heard.

·           Frustration of previous meetings has been trying to cover too much in the meeting

·           People would be willing to join and attend meetings in future if there was clarity of purpose and they could see outcomes which could make a difference within communities

·           Research should be undertaken to establish what worked elsewhere for comparative purposes

·           The future of the Community Fund should also be included in the remit of the Sub-Group

 

AGREED:

(a)     that a Sub-Group would be set up of the Area Partnership, comprising 2 Councillors along with representatives from Community Councils and Community Groups to examine options for the future working of the Area Partnership and the Community Fund;

 

(b)     to note that James Anderson (Eyemouth Community Council),  Juliana Amaral (BAVS), Keith Dickinson (Gavinton, Fogo & Polwarth Community Council), Anne McNeil (A Heart for Duns) and Jennie Sutton (Cockburnspath) had volunteered to be members of the Sub-Group;

 

(c)     that officers would request expressions of interest from other Groups to be represented on the Sub-Group; and

 

(d)     the Sub-Group would report its findings back to the Area Partnership.

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

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