The Head of Community Services has submitted a report which requests the approval of the Community Centres Strategy which has been updated following consultation.

Recommendation: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Adopt the Community Centre Strategy

The Head of Community Services submitted a report which requested the approval of the Community Centres Strategy which had been updated following consultation.

Cllr Simm, Board Member for Communities and Culture presented the report. She highlighted the high levels of responses to the consultation (Appendix 4) and thanked all the consultees.

The strategy focuses on facilities, in particular, making sure Rose Hill is used extensively and supporting Blackbird Leys and Barton.  The Council has also carried out a feasibility study for the East Oxford site - the consultation will begin soon.

The strategy also draws up a 5 year maintenance plan, as several community centres were built after WW2.

New leases for all community associations and recruitment and support of volunteers, especially on-going training is also a priority.

Cllr Fooks endorsed the consultation done.  Having two community associations in her ward, she would prefer new leases to be available before November 2017. Cllr Simm said that the Council has trialled a lease with one community association to get the model right and once this is finalised, the rolling out to the other associations won’t take long. 

Cllr Price said that the Communities Officer was always willing to meet with associations, so if associations are willing, they could have a new lease by early 2017.

Cllr Price said the strategy’s title “Building Communities together: Skills Health and Life” suggests that the role of community centres is to provide a wide range of activities and to work with partner organisations. There is the potential for community associations to link with health services and the police to deliver services.

Cllr Simm said that the Stronger Communities Partnership is constantly looking at ways we can use community centres to deliver community services.  Trustees have shown an appetite to do this, but we need to work on how we can best co-ordinate these services.

The City Executive Board resolves to:

 1.    Adopt the Community Centre Strategy

The Head of Community Services has submitted a report which presents the draft Community Centres Strategy for discussion and amendment prior to a period of public consultation.

Recommendation: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.         Approve the draft Community Centres Strategy for public consultation.

The Head of Community Services submitted a report which presented the draft Community Centres Strategy for discussion and amendment prior to a period of public consultation.

Cllr Simm, Board Member Culture and Communities, presented the report, highlighting the two main action areas of the draft Community Centres Strategy: improving facilities and sustainable management.  She referred the Board to the published responses to the recommendations from the Scrutiny Committee.  She said that the following recommendations were rejected or accepted in part because:

·         Recommendation 5 – in part  :  the Council would seek an alternative way to deliver a community hub in the event that proposed approach was compromised

·         Recommendation 6 - No: the draft Strategy did recognise the work of volunteers and voluntary organisations

·         Recommendation 7- in part :all groups were represented in the planned consultation sessions but the Board should notify officers if they were aware of other groups that should be included.

The Head of Community Services confirmed that the strategy would be subject to 8 weeks of public consultation starting in January 2016 and that the document would be available in hard copy and on-line.  He was pleased to report that the first event in the new Rose Hill Community Centre would take place before Christmas.

In response to a question from Cllr Fooks about funds previously allocated for maintenance at Cutteslowe Community Centre but which did not appear in the Action Plan, the Board noted that the details of funding for community centre maintenance would be available at the end of the financial year.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Approve the draft Community Centres Strategy for public consultation.

Contact Officer: Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services

Tel 01865 252705, ibrooke@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Community Services presented the draft Community Centres Strategy prior to submission to the City Executive Board and public consultation.

The Board Member sent her apologies.

Councillor Wolff presented a short paper setting out some suggested clarifications for the Committee’s consideration.

Judith Harley, a local resident, spoke about her concerns with the strategy and asked about the proposed public consultation.

In discussion the Committee noted a number of points, in particular:

·         the process for consultation;

·         that in the event that the major regeneration planned for Blackbird Leys did not happen, there were plans to improve the current community centre but no alternative funding;

·         once the strategy was agreed there should be discussions with community centre associations about supporting local and/or disadvantaged groups through their charging structure.

The Committee resolved that the following recommendations be put to the City Executive Board:

1.    greater clarity should be provided that the 15 minute walk time used to model community centre catchment areas is not exclusive;

2.    clarity should be provided as to how three specific gaps in community facilities have been identified from the map in figure 4, which also shows gaps in other areas of the city (specifically in the north);

3.    further consideration should be given to making the amendments proposed by Councillor Wolff (see appendix 1) before the Strategy goes out to consultation.;

4.    new priority theme should be added under the sustainable management action area around making the best use and most effective use of facilities at community centres;

5.    the strategy should articulate what the Council’s approach will be to ensuring there is an inclusive, high quality community hub serving the Leys area in the event that the proposed replacement of Blackbird Leys Community Centre is compromised or delayed, including seeking external funding;

6.    the strategy should better recognise and articulate the importance of volunteers to the city’s community centres;

7.    That the scope of the consultation set out in the report should be widened to include:

·         Residents associations and tenants groups as key stakeholders,

·         A disability focus group,

·         Each of the equality strands,

·         outreach to non-users and individuals as well as groups,

·         And should include publicity at each community centre.