Appendix 1

Hampshire County Council

Recreation and Heritage Department

Expanding and Strengthening our Support to Community Organisations

Hampshire County Council recognises that local community organisations and groups are fundamental to improving the quality of life in Hampshire providing vitality and enhancing wellbeing in local neighbourhoods

The Organisations

There are over 100 community associations, 300 village halls and numerous other similar organisations who provide services and facilities to support local communities

These organisations may define their activities as the following:

· As a local organisation and a vehicle for consultation - providing services, facilities and resources for other community and voluntary organisations

· As a service provider - providing a range of services in the fields of education and learning, recreation and leisure and social welfare

· As an operator of premises and facilities - not only promoting local activity but also acting on behalf of other agencies with facilities that they might wish to make available

· As an active partner- working with all the local authority agencies and interest groups to help promote, develop, sustain and support local community and volunteering initiatives

The activities of these organisations may encompass some or all of these roles depending on the nature of their community and the capacity of their organisation.

Hampshire County Council

Hampshire County Council provides support to these organisations so that they are better able

to participate in local networks that work effectively to identify and address local issues, gaps in provision and provide each other with mutual support -

(developing local support networks)

to develop the social, educational and recreational activities identified by their local communities

(supporting the provision of local activities)

to manage their buildings and provide local facilities efficiently and effectively, providing a welcome for all

(supporting the provision of well managed resources)

to involve, develop and support individuals in voluntary activity and provide opportunities for learning"

(supporting the activities of volunteers)

Outcomes for the County Council

This support will enable Hampshire County Council to achieve the following Corporate aims in partnership with Community Organisations

Shaping our surroundings

Outcome 1 The maintenance and enhancement of Hampshire's network of community facilities

Outcome 2 The development of local facilities to provide new opportunities to enable local communities to access the services and facilities they need.

Working with Hampshire's Communities

Outcome 3 To develop our activities in these local communities through their community organisations

Outcome 4 Enabling community organisations to be more effective at achieving their aims and objectives

Outcome 5 Enabling the community organisations to play a central role in shaping the delivery of services

These outcomes would need to be achieved within the remit of best value including value for money.

Hampshire County Council will facilitate this by

1) Providing capital support - providing financial support to enable the development of buildings and equipment including the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act in order to ensure the activity programmes can be achieved

2) Providing revenue support - creating a "Hampshire Community Chest" that will provide financial support for activity programmes and innovative activity

3) Providing staff support - providing an advisory service

4) Providing Support for volunteers -training and development for all those involved in the delivery of activity

5) Improving communications between the organisations themselves through networking and with Hampshire County Council

This support will enable Community Organisations to

· Build real partnerships and support each other

· Provide relevant services and activities and initiate new activities, services and projects that fill gaps in provision

· Manage their assets and activity programme efficiently and effectively

· Support community initiatives and volunteering by individuals in their community

Future Provision

This service is being provided at the present time but it has the potential to do more and is only being limited by its capacity to resource this support. All the issues that arise cannot be dealt with as they should and often the support provided is reactive. If greater emphasis is to be placed on providing a more proactive service the resourcing of it will need to be changed.

Consultation

This paper is the Department's first attempt at re-organising its Community Support resources. We would welcome the views of community organisations, district, parish and town councils and all partners by the end of this year so that decisions can be taken as part of the budget process.

The previous Community Policy was sent to those community associations, village halls, district councils and district councils of voluntary service that were on our database at the time and a consultation on those documents was carried out .( by questionnaire - August 1999)

Appendix 2

The Implications for Hampshire County Council's

Recreation and Heritage Department in

Expanding and Strengthening our support to

Community Organisations

The following is an analysis of the 5 key areas of support

1) Capital support

Current activity

1) The Community Buildings Fund - which receives applications from village hall trusts who wish to repair/refurbish their buildings.

2) The Major Projects Budget - A sum of £50,000 remains annually in the capital programme. It is currently being used in an ad hoc way to support schemes either linked to the development of Discovery Centres in community owned premises, for the major refurbishment of buildings that are owned by the county council or where an area can demonstrate it has a special need such as Thorney Hill in the New Forest.

3) Revenue used as capital- It was agreed at Sport and Community Panel on 8^th October 1998 that repairs to county owned properties should take priority over others and consequently a sum has been set aside annually to ensure that this priority is achieved. This sum was redirected from the revenue budget and is currently being used to fund repairs relating to access audits and risk assessments. This policy will need to be reviewed as part of the new strategy.

Future Activity

The Community Buildings Scheme is working well and it is not intended to alter this scheme unless absolutely necessary. However there are increasing pressures on it mainly because village hall trusts are trying to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. This is likely to continue for the foreseeable future and more capital funding is required if Hampshire is to provide for all current eligible applicants.

The amount allocated this year (2003/04) was £85,000 with an additional £50,000 added by the executive member and £25,000 returned to it that had been allocated to Stroud Village Hall Trust giving a total of £160,000. A survey of village halls in Hampshire carried by ourselves and Community Action Hampshire suggests that there is a great deal of work to be done in order to preserve these buildings . It is essential that this funding be maintained at an appropriate level.

Major Capital Fund - the use of these monies needs to be reviewed . There are 2 options - Option 1 is to increase it so that we can once again use it to provide substantial contributions to major developments and new builds. New buildings are costing in the region of £700,000. Given the reduction in Lottery Funding and the difficulty organisations are experiencing when trying to obtain funding for major refurbishments the preferred option would be to re-instate this fund. However this would require a substantial increase in the Capital Budget allocated to Community buildings. The alternative is to re-allocate it to the current County Buildings Scheme.

Support for County Properties- the arrangements for these buildings should be re-negotiated with Property Business and Regulatory Service and Estates Practice.

2) Revenue support

Current activity

1. Out of a 105 Community Associations there are currently 16 in receipt of funding support towards their Annual Revenue costs. Some of these organisations have been receiving funding from the County Council for over 20 years and have become grant dependent. In order to achieve a more widespread allocation of this funding and reduce this dependency a policy to reduce revenue funding year on year where it was felt appropriate was agreed by Sport and Community Panel on 18^th June 1999 as part of the previous strategic review.

2. We also support some neighbourhood work. Other neighbourhood projects including research activities are currently being supported from a range of sources:- e.g

· New Forest District Council is supporting Participatory Needs Assessments

· The Market Town healthchecks are currently being funded through the Countryside Agency

· District Councils especially East Hampshire are supporting parish plans and parish appraisals

· Community Action Hampshire is assisting with `Planning for Real' events

All these activities provide a neighbourhood perspective and encourage local people to get involved in identifying issues that need addressing and gaps in provision in their local area.

3. Five staff continue to be seconded to Community Associations and are considered as'in kind' support to these organisations . Of those five, two are at Leigh Park Community Centre and are part of an on-going agreement for supporting this organisation. The others are at Gosport Fordingbridge and Lymington.

Future Activity

1. The current revenue programme would need to be phased out in its current form and a new funding mechanism will need to be developed to replace it. This new programme will be aimed at providing support to organisations who can demonstrate that they can manage their organisation well, are involved in their local community and are providing relevant and increasing activities and services.

There will need to be a review of organisations currently in receipt of funding. Where possible these would be moved to the new programme.

Of those currently in receipt of revenue funding it would be sensible to prioritise the following :-

· Alton C. A - following the completion of the feasibility study and the market town healthcheck

· Horndean C.A. - in order to support their development plans

· Lyndhurst C.A. - in order to support the development of the Discovery Centre on their premises

· Ringwood C.A. - following the results of the proposed community survey

· Whitehill and Bordon C.A. - following the completion of their Market Towns healthcheck

· Headley Down C.A. -following the completion of their Planning for Real Exercise.

· Portchester C.A. - if we are able to move forward with the development plan for that area

Leigh Park Community Association would remain as at present until the end of their 5 year agreement (currently in year 2)

Any new applications for funding could be considered during this changeover phase. It is likely that in the financial year 2004/05 requests for revenue support will be received from Overton Community Association, Bursledon Community Association, Tadley Community Association. and The Kingsley Centre.

2. Funding will also be provided to new organisations that require support in their start up phase. These organisations always require funding in the early stages of their development while they are putting their asset management programme in place. This funding will be fixed for a period of 3 - 5 years maximum with a taper.

There will be a request for funding from the new Community Association at River Way Andover in December 2003.

3. Strategies will need to be developed to ensure wherever possible that Community Associations and Village Hall Trusts are involved in processes that have a neighbourhood perspective. They should be encouraged to develop local partnerships and strategies within their neighbourhoods.

4. In some areas there may be a need to develop a community organisation first and consequently project support may begin as an agency partnership as is currently being developed in Andover between ourselves, Test Valley Borough Council, Testway Housing, the Council of Voluntary Service and Community Action Hampshire. It has been agreed that as a priority the community around Blenheim Hall should be asked about their community needs.

Where a Community Association already exists they will be encouraged to take a lead role in this activity. If there does not appear to be any local organisation that can lead the process in this particular area the project will require the instigation of activity by the agency partners in the initial phase.

5. The position of the seconded staff will need to be reviewed in line with any new priorities.

The arrangements for revenue funding at the present time is outlined in Appendix 3. This budget will be redefined as `Hampshire Community Chest'. Our aspiration would be to assist all Community Associations in Hampshire. Some of this could be met by redirection of the current revenue fund and by developing a strategy for the remaining seconded staff, but even a moderate increase to the base budget would make a big difference to this programme.

3) Staff Support

Current Activity

Excluding the seconded staff there are 4.5 staff providing support to this service -

0.5 being administration support.

Future Activity

In order that support may be effective in future it is essential that officers while providing an overall county support service develop a distinct area role enabling more co-ordinated support to organisations, networks and activities on a district basis. The district priorities for the current staff are Havant, Eastleigh and East Hampshire.

Havant is a major priority in terms of deprivation. There will also be a major housing development at Waterlooville in the next few years. Supported by current staff.

Eastleigh is an urban area with major housing development and a newly re-furbished county owned community building at Bishopstoke. Supported by current staff.

East Hampshire is a large rural area with established district partnerships and has been serving as a model for developments in other areas. This area is generally supported by current staff and includes the current development projects at Horndean and Alton . The Resources Project Funding has been allocated through the revenue budget for a project worker to work with the resources project consortium for a period of 3 years. This funding is being provided by the re-direction of the current revenue budget.

Direct staff support is also required in the other districts.

· Gosport and Fareham --- Managerial support is currently being given to Portchester Community Association but more could be done especially in areas like Rowner, Gosport. With the retirement of the Community Liaison Officer (previously Director Gosport Community Association) An officer can be appointed to oversee activities in these two districts. The Administrator seconded to Gosport Community Centre would also be able to provide assistance in these areas. We will be able to provide this support from the current budget after September 2003.

· New Forest -This is a major rural area. Issues are currently arising both in Ringwood - re the development of community facilities and Fordingbridge - young people. There are market town health checks being developed in New Milton and possibly Fordingbridge. PNA's have been completed at Calshot village and Pennington. A new community facility is to be built at Thorney Hill Bransgore and a Discovery Centre being developed at Lyndhurst. Lymington has a major community facility providing a range of activities including adult learning classes and a cinema. It is proposed that an overall plan be developed for the New Forest area which would co-ordinate activities and provide much needed support to Community Associations in this district .

· Test Valley -- There are very few Community Associations in the Test Valley District. The rural nature of it means that the public are largely being served by village hall trusts. However, there are some major urban/suburban areas particularly Andover which is a county council priority area and it is intended to provide a project worker to work both with the new partnership, the River Way Community Association and other appropriate agencies to co-ordinate activities and developments in this district. Funding for this project worker would also need to come from the current revenue budget

The remaining areas are Winchester, Rushmoor, Hart and Basingstoke

· Winchester - the Southern Parishes Partnership project and Winnall Community Association are being supported by the current staff but consideration will have to be given to a greater district role for the Community Support team at some future date

· Basingstoke - a discussion will need to be held with Basingstoke & Deane Borough Counci'ls Community Development team before any decision is made regarding this area. At the present time most organisations are well supported by the district council

· Rushmoor /Hart - neither of these Districts have community associations that operate in a totally independent manner. How these areas are supported will have to be considered at a later date.

4) Support for volunteers

The formal training and development programme has been in place now for two years and is growing with demand. The informal support and training and development activities continues and will do so into the future. Many of the skills learnt as part of voluntary activity are transferable to the workplace.

At the present time a budget of between £6000- £8000 is set aside for this support but as the programme develops more funding will be required.

Future Activity

This activity has to be developed in a way that removes the barriers to attendance. To volunteers and organisations this means providing the activity locally, at an appropriate time and at little cost to themselves or the organisation.

The future strategy will be to assist organisations to develop skills audits for their staff and volunteers and to provide accessible programmes of activity which develop community based skills locally . The development of an accreditation system using the resources of the Adult and Community Learning Unit should be considered.

5) Developing a Communications Strategy

Current Activity

At the present time the main communication arrangement is a meeting that takes place 5 - 6 time a year between the staff of the community organisations and the county staff team. The aim of this meeting is one of support, so that ideas can be shared, advice and support given and informal training activity can take place. Other than this the county council is dependent on the staff team attending individual trustees meetings or through the provision of minutes of those meetings.

Future Activity

It is proposed to increase this activity in the following ways :-

· a member of staff from the sector be seconded to the staff team to assist with the development of this strategy

· a quarterly newsletter be published and distributed

· a process needs to be established for inviting members to take up their representative function on the managing bodies of these organisations. There are some legal issues that would need to be addressed before this could happen, primarily to protect the members from personal liability if they join such a managing body and take up the option to vote at these meetings. We would need to refer to NCVO code of Practice and consult with the legal department before this could take place.

· A partnership agreement should be established between ourselves and individual organisations.

Processes

Development of area advisors

Staff will be given an area brief in order to develop local knowledge and activities

The secondment of advisory support to Community Support Team

It is proposed that there is a seconded post within the Community Support Team to assist with the development of funding processes and forward action plans. This post would be filled by either a community centre manager or a trustee from a community organisation. The secondment would be for 2 - 3 days per week thus allowing the person concerned to return to their organisation as appropriate. Invitations will be sent out to all community associations and staff providing an opportunity for both staff and trustees to be considered for this post.

The funding process

In the future there will be 2 funds supporting community organisations. One a revenue fund `The Hampshire Community Chest' and one fund for capital projects `The Community Buildings Fund'.

Where funding is to be allocated care will be taken to ensure that any process is fair, non-bureaucratic and quick! Criteria will be transparent "simple to measure" and any decisions taken or recommendations made about individual projects will be made in this spirit.

A joint funding protocol

We would also like to develop a protocol for joint funding with District and Borough Councils in Hampshire to maximise local authority support to local communities. Views on how this could be achieved would be very welcome. This would include proposals for joint arrangements for the funding of major capital projects.

The development of a new funding procedure for the revenue fund

In order to set up the `Hampshire Community Chest' a new funding procedure would need to be established with the relevant protocols relating to the activities and the organisations supported and to the funding formula.

It is proposed that this procedure is a two-stage process with an initial `expression of interest' outlining what activity the funding is required for before the final application for funding is required. This is quite a common procedure for funding streams as it saves organisations who are unlikely to obtain funding to expend unnecessary effort on a full application The `expressions of interest' could be considered by a panel (possibly members of the consultative forum ) and recommendations made about which organisations should proceed to the full application stage. Advice could be sought about applications from the District Officers.

Staffing issues

It is proposed that the position of the seconded staff is reviewed.

Improvements to the training and development activity

It is proposed that we work closely with the education department and use the services of the Adult and Community Learning Unit in order to accredit training activities. Their protocols would need to be applied to our training and development activity in order to achieve this.

The newsletter- it will be possible to use current administration staff to produce this newsletter possibly by using the services of the Administrator currently seconded to Gosport Community Association

Member Representation - as mentioned above this would require some investigation into the legal position initially.