LG 7 - Un Llais Cymru
Evidence from One Voice Wales, the representative body for community and town councils. (Saesneg yn unig)
1. One Voice Wales welcomes the proposed Measure and the inclusion of community (and town) councils as recognised community planning partners; not to do so would be perverse, especially in view of the role of community councils as ‘the voice of the citizen’ as prescribed by Sir Jeremy Beecham in Beyond Boundaries. One Voice Wales accepts that being recognised as such also brings with it responsibilities and looks to work productively with WAG, WLGA, and other partners to facilitate the effective engagement of the sector in the community planning process. One Voice Wales is of the view that we can support this directly through our local Area Committees but also believe the relationship at a local level should be reflected in the local charters which unitary authorities and community and town councils are currently being encouraged to develop.
2. Responses to questions:
3. The WAG explanatory memo refers in paras. 3.8 and 5.17 to patchiness and inconsistencies re collaboration on community planning. Do you agree and what is your experience?
4. Yes, we do agree. Whilst collaboration might not be uniform across all authorities due to local circumstances our experience is that some authorities are more willing to involve their community councils than others. We therefore welcome the inclusion of community councils in the list of community planning partners and think it would be most odd for them not to be included. To that end we support the evidence given by the WLGA that the emphasis of the measure should be increasingly toward ‘community-centred’ actions.
5. We would also point to the evidence given by the Sustainable Development Commission to the Sustainability Committee on the 13th November 2008 which identified barriers resulting from ‘local levels of democracy not having a chance to be fully engaged in quality processes that allow them to contribute to consensus building.’
6. We feel that the proposed measure offers significant scope to address these concerns.
7. Is the statutory approach appropriate? Could the proposed changes be achieved without legislation?
8. We believe the legislation is required in order to achieve a more consistent approach to community planning. Also, the Welsh Assembly Government is committed to extending the Power of Wellbeing to community and town councils (as is happening already in England). We believe this underlines the importance of including the sector in the list of community planning partners since community strategies are founded on the Power of Wellbeing introduced in the 2000 Local Government Act and this will facilitate a joined up approach to wellbeing across local government and other partners.
9. Part of the rationale is to remedy the assertion in para. 3.8 of the explanatory memo that community strategy objectives are often not reflected in shorter term delivery and service changes. Does measure overcome this?
10. We recognise that one of the problems of community strategies is that they are strong on strategy but weak on implementation. One of the benefits of more proactively engaging community and town councils in the community strategy planning and delivery process is that they will be able to fulfil the role prescribed to them in the Beecham Review – Beyond Boundaries, i.e. that of being the voice of the citizen. Their involvement should therefore lead to a broader, bottom-up ownership of the community strategy. Also, very often services are planned in silos and occasionally this can result in conflicts between services ‘on the ground’. Since community councils operate at the level of individual communities they are well-placed to identify such conflicts and promote amendments in line with the strategy.
11. How will the proposed measure change current practice?
12. By identifying community councils as statutory community planning partners it should ensure a more proactive engagement of the sector than has, in the main, been the case to date. One Voice Wales, through our local Area Committees which meet quarterly across Wales, is well-placed to facilitate this engagement in a manner that is not overly burdensome for unitary authorities. Some unitary authorities already hold forum meetings with their local community and town councils, or are planning to do so, and we would suggest that these also provide an excellent opportunity to engage with the sector on community planning. We recognise that, as with county councillors, training and development would be beneficial to support councils in this process. In addition to the training programme being rolled out by One Voice Wales, we believe that opening up training on community planning being provided by unitary authorities to community councils in their areas would help ensure a joined up understanding of community planning locally as well as promote other opportunities for closer working.
13. How will services be improved and quality of life enhanced as a result of community planning provision?
14. These improvements should be more easily facilitated as a consequence of this measure since it promotes a more joined-up approach to the identification of priorities and implementation of associated actions. The cross-public service collaboration will be complemented by the local experiences as reported by community and town councils. This will help ensure that priorities and objectives are well-grounded and reflect citizens’ experiences accurately. Furthermore, by promoting a wider ownership of community strategy objectives, it will be far likely that individual organisations’ activities will be aligned with the overall strategy, creating a holistic benefit as a result.
15.What are your views on how the proposed measure will join up WPI and community planning?
16. We do not believe that to date there has been a widespread recognition of the inter-connection between these two activities and the emphasis on actions coming from the community strategy is welcome. We understand the Minister has underlined the importance of this connection and no doubt it might feature in future guidance. In this context, we would like to draw attention to the fact that the National Performance Framework for England includes an indicator on the degree to which communities feel they can influence local decision making (NI8) and that we would like to see a similar priority given to community empowerment in Wales. We believe the joining up of the community strategy process and WPI provides an opportunity to promote this.
17. Do you support the duty to participate in community planning?
18. The duty to participate is supported as it is recognised that this is a failing of the current system. One Voice Wales believes that, for community councils to play an effective role in supporting, developing and representing their communities, they need to be properly engaged in the development and implementation of the community strategy for their area. Not to be included as a statutory community planning partner would undermine their ability to effectively represent their communities, especially in light of the commitment to extend the Power of Wellbeing to the sector.
19. Should any bodies to be removed or added to Section 38 (list of community planning partners)?
20. No.
21. Will exclusion of non-public sector bodies be an issue?
22. We recognise the legal difficulty in including non-public sector bodies within the definition. The inclusion of community councils will strengthen the ‘citizens’ voice’ in relation to community planning and this will help offset this concern to some extent. Nevertheless we fully support the community involvement aspects of the measure set out in Section 44 and believe that is the appropriate solution.
23. What are your views on the capacity of your own organisation to participate?
24. One Voice Wales is ready to facilitate the inclusion of community and councils in the community planning process wherever possible. Reference has already been made to our local Area Committees that could be used as a forum to promote engagement. We are currently rolling out training to the sector which emphasises the importance of partnership working and are looking to develop a specific module on community engagement, working with Community Development Foundation Wales and others.
25. Many community councils are already involved in local community engagement and community planning activities which would also help inform the wider community strategy. The move by some authorities to adopt the Open Strategies tool should support this further.
26. Recent research into community planning in Powys, funded by the Carnegie Trust, is finding that community and town councils often ‘have to carve out their role on a project by project basis without strategic setting within which to push forward a vision of this level of local government’. Commenting on the county-wide community strategy process it is stated that ‘a major barrier seems to be the lack of understanding of the value of engagement which consequently has a knock-on effect to the commitment shown to implementing a coherent community-focussed policy.’
27. Therefore, whilst some community councils are moving ahead with their own community engagement agendas, Talgarth Town Council and its Local Regeneration Group and Action Plan being an excellent example, it would be helpful if there was a clearer strategic framework within which such activities could be given a wider context, recognition and support. The community strategy is the obvious vehicle for this and so we would encourage community strategy partnerships to adopt a very strong model of community engagement and empowerment, which community and town councils are well-placed to help implement.
28. How will it link to other UA plans?
29. We support the pre-eminence of the community strategy over other UA plans but they must of course be interlinked. We would particularly draw attention to a concern that the community strategy does not become secondary in nature or status to the Local Service Agreement stemming from the Local Service Boards. One Voice Wales recognises and supports the important role of LSBs but, bearing in mind their non-statutory nature, the community strategy should ultimately be driving the content of the LSA and not vice versa. Otherwise we feel there is a danger that the community strategies will again not get implemented as they should.
30. The measure places no statutory obligation on the unitary authorities to consult on a draft of the community strategy. Should there be such an obligation?
31. Yes.
32. Should it be reviewed every four years or shorter?
33. Monitoring and review should be seen as inextricably linked. One Voice Wale’s view is that the community strategy should be reviewed every four years, following local elections, in order for the new councils to have ownership of the strategy. However, it would be sensible to have an annual ‘refresh’ based on monitoring information and any other significant developments not taken account of.
34. Other Comments?
35. One Voice Wales would also be keen to work with WAG, WLGA and specialists such as the Community Development Foundation (Wales), the Sustainable Development Commission and others to promote the establishment of ‘sustainable community development plans’ for every community in Wales. Community and town councils are ideally placed to facilitate the implementation of such plans, bringing together all interested parties at the most local level, e.g. the local meithrin, rugby club, civic society, chamber of trade, etc, and in this way could add significant value, context and engagement mechanisms for the county-wide community strategy. The Carnegie-funded research currently being done by Liz Bickerton on the community planning process in Powys, and by Planed in Pembrokeshire, together with the lessons learned from the implementation of parish plans in England, would provide an excellent starting point for developing such an approach across all of Wales. In addition, and taking into account the re-making of the Assembly’s Sustainable Development Scheme, such plans would provide an ideal opportunity to make a reality of the adage, ‘think global, act local’ by providing for mainstreaming of sustainability at the most local level of governance in Wales.
