Purpose

To endorse the Communities Partnership's draft
communities strategy for public consultation with residents and
other stakeholders. The strategy aims to build strong, connected
and cohesive communities over the next 10 years.

Decision

RESOLVED that
 

i.      
the extent of the co-production activity with partners and
engagement
conducted over the summer 2025
is noted. This resulted in a total of 2,388 responses received,
which has informed the draft vision, aims and objectives of the
Communities Strategy.
 

ii.    
the draft
Communities Partnership communities’ strategy vision, aims
and objectives produced by the partnership be endorsed for a 6-week
public consultation using the Council’s consultation
platform.
 

iii.   
following
public consultation the amended fully developed final strategy will
be brought to Cabinet for their consideration to refer to Council
for endorsement and adoption.

Reasons for the decision

i.      
A public consultation will allow the Communities Partnership to
gather further feedback on the draft vision, aims and objectives of
the strategy and engage
residents and
partners in contributing ideas for the action plan. It will also
allow those who have already contributed ideas, as part of the
extensive engagement activities conducted during the summer 2025,
to see how these have been incorporated into the draft strategy and
provide further input to shape the strategy. Feedback will be used
to refine and develop the final strategy and a detailed action plan
for the first 1- 3 years of strategy implementation. The final
version of the strategy will be submitted to Council for
endorsement. Similarly, the organisations which are part of the
Communities Partnership and the Communities Strategy Delivery Group
will consider the strategy for endorsement by their boards.
 

ii.    
Engaged and healthy communities is a priority in the Council Plan
2023-2027 and an ambition within this is that community development
and spaces encourage a cohesive and engaged community. This
strategy will provide a strategic guide for this priority for the
council, as well as for partner organisations and communities
themselves.
 

iii.   
In developing strategic service and financial planning from 2026-29
the council will be working with its partners to empower
communities, collaborate and innovate and ensure its decisions are
evidence based. The Communities Strategy is an important enabler of
this strategic direction.

Alternative options considered

i.      
There is an alternative option to not take the draft strategy to
public consultation, and to instead continue to develop the draft
only with partners involved in the Communities Partnership and
associated delivery group. There has been extensive public
consultation already undertaken. However, the engagement so far has
been focused on understanding the current perceptions of
communities and ideas for how communities could be strengthened.
The proposed consultation will allow everyone in the borough,
including those involved already and those who have not been, to
scrutinise the draft vision, aims and objectives for the strategy
developed from this engagement work as well as outline some of the
actions including quick wins. It will allow a deeper exploration of
actions which can be taken by partners and communities to formulate
a detailed action plan for the first year of strategy
implementation.
 

ii.    
There is also the alternative option to not take the strategy
forward at all. As discussed above, engaged and healthy communities
is a council priority. There is also significant buy-in from
partner organisations and there has been extensive engagement. To
not take the strategy forward would be a missed opportunity to work
with communities to strengthen communities across the borough and
to make the most effective use of existing resources through
collaboration and coordination.