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 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.