Contact: Jo White Policy Officer 5004

[email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 Hampshire County Council is a key partner on the Havant Local Strategic Partnership which has prepared `The Havant Community Strategy (see Appendix A). Hampshire County Council approval is necessary for the strategy to be implemented.

2. Background

2.1 The Local Government Act 2000 (LGA 2000) imposed a statutory duty on principal local authorities to prepare Community Strategies for their areas with the aim of improving social, economic and environmental well-being. These strategies must be prepared by a range of partners who agree to work together in a Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). The LSP for Havant is known as the `Havant Community Partnership' and is administered by the Borough Council.

2.2 Due to time constraints related to the consultation period, the Community Strategy for Havant was circulated by letter in September to the P&R Scrutiny and Select Committee members. The strategy was also circulated to the Corporate Community Strategy Group for their comments. These comments were fed back to the LSP as part of their consultation process.

2.3 This decision supports 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.

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

2.5 The version of the Havant Community Strategy attached has been amended to incorporate the comments from the Corporate Community Strategy Group and the P&R Scrutiny and Select Committee.

2.6 The Havant LSP approved the Community Strategy at their meeting on the 22^nd October, subject to a few amendments. The attached document is the final version which will go to the publishers and has been signed off by the Chair of the Havant LSP.

2.6 The published Havant Community Strategy will be circulated as soon as it becomes available

3. Havant Community Strategy 2005-2008

3.1 The Havant Community Strategy has been prepared as a result of community consultation and in conjunction with a range of partners, including Havant Borough Council, Hampshire County Council and the Community through the Citizens's Panel (Community Pulse) .

3.2 In producing this Community Strategy, the Havant LSP has built on the previous Community Strategy 2001-2004 `Creating a Better Future- Partnership in Action'

3.3 The Havant Community Strategy details a range of influences that will need to be taken into account over the lifetime of the Community Strategy, such as Area Investment Framework (AIF), Havant Compact, the Community Strategy for Hampshire, Leigh Park `Creating Quality Places Project, the Liveability Programme and the Local Development Framework (LDF).

3.4 Experience of delivering the previous Community Strategy (2001-2004) has indicated a need for a more simplified approach, and this revised Community Strategy has moved from eight aims to three overarching themes, which are as follows:

· The economy

· Social inclusion

· The environment

3.5 The detail for the three overarching themes contained in the strategy are listed below. The detail of specific actions that are the responsibility of the County Council is also shown

The Economy

This theme includes the following:

Economic Development: attracting more wealth into the local economy through bringing in new businesses, expansion of existing local businesses

Town centres: Revitalising/bringing in new retail businesses

Employment: Increasing the number of local jobs so as to reduce traveling out of the borough

Education/ skills development: Increasing opportunities for skills development to improve productivity and competitiveness

· Reduce the gap between the County average of pupils achieving 5+ GCSEs at grades A - C and the Havant average, by 2008 (HCC)

· Reduce the number of people in the Havant workforce aged 16 - 74 who have no qualifications, from 31% (2001) to 29%, by 2011 (HCC)

Social inclusion

This theme includes the following:

Health: Equal access to and delivery of health services for everyone

· Develop an additional 48 nursing homes beds and refurbish existing residential home at Emsworth House, to provide a total of 79 beds- 31 residential and 48 mixed nursing beds (general nursing care and elderly mental health) by September 2006 (HCC)

Housing: Working to being about a more balanced housing market in which everyone has the opportunity to live in a decent home at a cost which is affordable

Crime and disorder: Improving quality of life by continuing to reduce crime and disorder and reducing fear of becoming a victim

Young people/age-related issues: encouraging and supporting young and older people to contribute to developing a local community of which everyone can be proud

· Be actively delivering citizenship education in all secondary schools in the borough, by 2007 (HCC)

· Increase participation in the cultural and sporting life of the borough, by 2008 (HBC/HCC)

· Support the development of at least one library in the borough to achieve Discovery Centre status, by 2008, subject to acquisition of funding (HBC/HCC)

Anti-poverty: Tackling the disadvantages which limit people's ability to participate effectively in economic, social or cultural activity

The Environment

This theme includes the following:

Built environment: improving the design and quality of built-up areas

Public places and spaces: better maintenance/presentation

Transport: promoting more sustainable transport choices

· Redevelop Havant Bus Station by March 2006 (HCC)

· LSP Partners develop and promote workplace travel plans by 2008 (HCC)

· Complete A3 Bus Priority Scheme from Portsmouth to Horndean by 2007 (HCC)

· Improve town centre intersections and roundabouts as necessary to deal with redevelopment of town centre sites (HCC)

· Improve highway sites where there are recurring casualties (HCC)

· Work with schools borough-wide to develop and implement school travel plans and safer routes to schools - ongoing (HCC)

· Further develop "Call and Go" bus service for people with disabilities and people who do not live close to a bus stop (HCC)

· Develop further Quality Bus Partnerships by expansion of A3 network and services between Havant and Waterlooville (HCC)

· Complete phased refurbishment of Havant Railway Station footbridge (HCC)

Sustainability: increasing recycling and more efficient use of energy

3.6 Officers within departments in Hampshire County Council who are leading on the actions listed above have been fully involved in the process of deciding these actions and the development of the SMART targets

3.7 In order to give residents the opportunity to become involved in identifying and planning improvements for their localities, six `Community Boards' have been set up in the five distinct communities in the Borough, namely Emsworth, Havant, Hayling Island, Leigh Park and two in Waterlooville.

3.8 It is envisaged that one representative from each of the Community Boards would eventually sit on the Havant LSP from 2005, thus providing a link from the Community Boards to the LSP. Methods of recruitment of the Community Board members are currently being discussed

Recommendation

That the `Havant Community Strategy ' be recommended to the Executive Member for Policy and Resources for approval.

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.

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