Agenda item

Recommendation:

That the Policy and Resources Committee recommend adoption of the Strategy to Council.

Council adopts this strategy for Three Rivers District Council.

That public access to the report be immediate.

That public access to the decision be immediate.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Strategy and Partnerships recommending adoption of the Three Rivers Community Strategy 2023- 28, noting that the Council was the lead partner of the Three Rivers Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) responsible for drafting the strategy.

Shivani Dave, Partnerships Manager, presented the report.

In the subsequent discussion, the following points were made.

a)    The practical differences that the residents of Three Rivers District Council (TRDC) would see as a result of the implementation of the Community Strategy included, for example, in response to the “cost of living” crisis –

·       The setting up of individual community group meetings involving community partners within neighbourhoods in the District; and

·       Through these meetings, the provision of “Warm Hubs” (also known as “Welcoming Hubs”) as part of a coordinated programme of “warm” spaces provided by community partners.

The Chair noted that the LSP involved several statutory bodies including the Police, the Fire Brigade, the Probation Service, the Job Centre, the Citizens Advice Bureau, Housing Associations, Mind (Mental Health charity), local charities such Ascend, and working with organisations addressing issues such as domestic abuse, in an effort to make sure that nobody “fell through the cracks”.

b)    The Community Strategy had the greatest impact on those residents and persons within TRDC who were most in need of support. Therefore, by implication, the Community Strategy contributed to the well-being of all residents within TRDC.

c)    With reference to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy 2023-2026 [see item headed: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy 2023-26] regarding the statistics of the number of persons who embarked upon Council surveys which they then failed to complete, it was proposed that the major block to people completing and submitting the survey was the requirement to register at the outset of the survey process. Consequently, the requirement to register for the survey has been removed.

It was noted that the various organisations within the LSP structure consulted with their respective service users and the draft Three Rivers Community Strategy had been the subject of discussion at three LSP meetings. The final version of the Strategy, which was before the Committee this evening, had been subjected to significant scrutiny by the LSP and its various substructures and service users.

d)    It was noted that it was the norm for people who engaged in public consultations not to comment, when asked, on the consultation process. Those people who did comment, tended to comment adversely on the consultation process. Therefore, for a consultation which had a broad consensus, the expectation was that there would be a relatively low consultation response rate.

Anecdotally, it was suggested that, if the response rate was relatively low, that was an indication of general support for the subject of the consultation.

e)    It was proposed, regarding those persons who had registered to complete the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey but has not then proceeded to complete the survey, that it may be possible for the Council to follow up, in accordance with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) regulations, as to why those persons had not completed the survey.

f)      If the Council was consulting with existing service users through existing service providers, there was a possibility that persons who were not existing service users were being overlooked in any consultation process.

It was noted that this was one of the reasons the Council was developing a new consultation platform and requesting people to register with the platform which would allow comparisons to be made with those who had registered, service users and the wider community. Groups that were not included in the list of registered users or service users could then be identified and the Council could seek to engage with these groups through Community Engagement Officers and the Council’s community partners and agencies. It may be that online engagement was not appropriate for some groups and the platform was just one of several tools of engagement available to the Council.

It was further noted that it was for this reason that the LSP included so many different partners and agencies. The only major agency that was not a member of the LSP was the NHS and an offer had been made to the NHS to join the next meeting of the LSP by way of a remote connection.

As there were no more questions, Councillor Drury, second by the Chair, moved that the Committee approve the recommendations as set out in the report.

RESOLVED: That the Committee –

1.    Adopt the Three Rivers Community Strategy 2023-28 (“the Strategy”);

2.    Recommend to Full Council that it adopt the Policy;

3.    That public access to –

a)    The report; and

b)    To the decisions of the Committee and Full Council,

be immediate.