Contact: Jo White, Policy Officer (Community Strategy) Ext: 5004

e-mail: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1. The following decisions are sought:

(i) To approve the allocation of £2,360 from the Hampshire Strategic Partnership, this will be used to carry out a `fit for purpose' review of the current structure of the Hampshire Strategic Partnership.

(ii) To approve the allocation of £4,800 from the Hampshire Strategic Partnership, this will be used to meet the remaining costs relating to the production of the Community Strategy for Hampshire and the associated Development Plan.

2. Reasons:

2.1 These decisions support Aim 4 of the Corporate Strategy (Building Strong and Safe Communities) by working together with local people to build strong and safe communities for everyone. In addition these decisions support the themes of the Community Strategy for Hampshire.

3. Other Options considered and rejected: Not to approve these allocations

4. Conflicts of Interest declared by the decision maker or executive member consulted - Not applicable.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date: 11 June 2004

Councillor D. A. Kirk

Contact: Jo White, Policy Officer (Community Strategy) Ext: 5004

e-mail: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report makes recommendations in respect of a number of applications for funding from various LSPs across the County, which have either been approved by the Chief Executive; are subject to approval by the Executive Member for Community Development and Regeneration; or which require referral to the Leader for approval.

2. Background

2.1 A budget for supporting projects derived from the County Council's statutory duty to prepare a community strategy has been set up and this includes a budget of £200,000 for pump priming the Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and to develop further community strategies.

2.2 Each of the 11 LSP's are encouraged to bid for money from this budget to support the development of their LSPs and for the pump priming of projects.

2.3 The budget is also available for the development and implementation of the Hampshire Strategic Partnership.

2.4 The Chief Executive can approve amounts of less than £2000. The Executive Member for Community Development and Regeneration can approve amounts between £2000 and £5000. Amounts exceeding £5000 must be approved by the Executive Member and referred, with a recommendation to the Leader for decision.

2.5 Appendix B sets out the funding criteria for which bids will be approved. They are intended as guidelines and not prescriptive rules.

2.6 These decisions support Aim 4 of the Corporate Strategy (Building Strong and Safe Communities) by working together with local people to build strong and safe communities for everyone. In addition these decisions support the themes of the Community Strategy for Hampshire.

2.7 The relevant local Member's views are taken into account through the LSP mechanism.

3. Current bids

3.1 The following bid has been approved by the Chief Executive:

3.1.2 The sum of £500 for the Changing Lives Partnership (New Forest LSP) as a contribution towards training and implementing work on the website for disabled recreation opportunities.

3.1.3 The website is edited and run entirely by a disabled person who has taken over this voluntary post following the loss of the original editor.

3.1.4 The object of the project is to improve opportunities for disabled people to find information on any recreational opportunity including societies and clubs, which strongly supports the Community Strategy theme of creating better access for all. Contributions have also been secured from the New Forest District Council.

3.2 The following bids are for consideration by the Executive Member for Community Development and Regeneration:

3.2.1 The sum of £2,360 from the Hampshire Strategic Partnership to carry out a `fit for purpose' review of the current structure of the Hampshire Strategic Partnership.

3.2.2 The main drivers for change within the partnership include two important changes in context and therefore the opportunity to review the membership seems timely. The first change is that the function of the Hampshire Strategic Partnership now needs to change as it moves out of the development phase and into action planning and the second change is the departure of the Community Strategy Manager.

3.2.3 The review will be carried out by an independent consultant from the Hampshire Learning Centre and the anticipated outcomes are as follows:

· A reviewed and where necessary revised structure for the Hampshire Strategic Partnership providing a clear purpose and terms of reference.

· Include a realistic and engaging role for the partnership.

· Make provision for closer links with Local Strategic Partnerships which enables minimal duplication of effort and maximum joint working.

3.2.4 The review will be in two stages, the first stage will take the form of a simple questionnaire which will be administered to all members of the Hampshire Strategic Partnership and a small number of more in depth interviews (maximum 9) which will attempt to include a balance between those who have and have not been regular contributors. The results from this will be presented back to the partnership at the meeting in July, and the Coordinating Group will be tasked with coming up with proposals as to achieve the outcomes listed in 3.2.3.

3.3 The sum of £4,800 from the Hampshire Strategic Partnership to meet the remaining costs relating to the production of the Community Strategy for Hampshire and the associated Development Plan.

3.3.1 A previous bid of £5,000 was set a side for the production of the Community Strategy, however this amount is insufficient and a further £4,800 is needed to print 2000 copies of the document.

3.3.2 Contributions were requested from other members at a recent Hampshire Strategic Partnership Steering Group meeting, however to date none have been received. Any contributions received will be put back into the Community Strategy budget.

3.4 The unspent funds from 2003/04 (£33,470) were carried over into this financial year. Added together this gave a total of £241,470. Following the above approved bids against the 2004/05 budget, the total spent is £24,940 leaving £216,530 (see attached appendix A).

Recommendations

The following recommendations are sought:

1. To approve the sum of £2,360 from the Hampshire Strategic Partnership to carry out a `fit for purpose' review of the current structure of the Hampshire Strategic Partnership.

2. To approve the sum of £4,800 from the Hampshire Strategic Partnership to meet the remaining costs relating to the production of the Community Strategy for Hampshire and the associated Development Plan.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

File FM Exec Member Location: Community planning/committee

reports