Agenda item

The Chair introduced the report by stating the importance of it and the changes it will mean to the workings of Councillors in their communities.

         

The Council’s Corporate Improvement Plan has a specific improvement  theme of “strong, high impact partnerships”. This includes “active ward Councillors working within neighbourhoods to build community and citizens capacity”. The objective was the introduction of “a new model of citizen engagement and neighbourhood working linked to a review of Area Assemblies”. To give effect to this improvement priority the Council decided on 19th May 2017 to endorse a new vision for neighbourhood working:

 

“Putting communities at the heart of everything we do by

Councillors working with their communities on what matters to them, Listening and working together to make a difference and

Supporting people from different backgrounds to get on well together . . . to help make people healthier, happier, safer and proud”

 

·           To support delivery of the vision the Area Assemblies were replaced with a new ward based model of neighbourhood working with the following characteristics:

 

·           Production of Ward Profiles and Action Plans for all 21 wards identifying local issues, priorities and opportunities.

 

·           The assignment of dedicated officer support at 2.5 days per week per ward to implement the new model.

 

·           An allocated devolved budget for each ward to address and respond to local Ward Plan priorities and support community involvement and development.

 

·           Training and support provided by the Local Government Association on ward planning and new ways of neighbourhood working. This will include “Ward Walks” in each ward and joint officer and member capacity building seminars, and training on using social media to engage with residents.

 

The review is a councillor led process and implementation over a 12 month transitional period, is being driven by a member group chaired by Councillor Yasseen, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Working and Cultural Services. The group will oversee the transitional arrangements leading to the embedding of the model.

 

Other related matters the group will address will be the production of a new Neighbourhood Strategy that will see the ward as the “building block” to enable partners and communities to work together to improve local outcomes, make the best use of resources and local assets, and develop innovative approaches to enable more people to help themselves and each other.

 

Key Issues

 

The review sought to address a number of key issues originally raised in the RMBC Corporate “Fresh Start” Improvement Plan (26th May 2015). These were to:

 

o    Determine why working at a neighbourhood level is important

 

o    Describe the outcomes of improved neighbourhood working

 

o    Highlight the added value of a neighbourhood approach to locality working

 

The expected outcomes of the review of neighbourhood working are to:

 

o    Improve local democratic engagement and community leadership by describing the way in which councillors, officers and partners will interact with the local community.

 

o    Identify the support that could be expected by Elected Members from the Council and its key partners.

 

o    Clarify the role of the Council and partners in addressing neighbourhood based issues.

 

o    Determine how other services run by the Council and its partners can be tailored to and benefit from neighbourhood approaches.

 

o    Highlight the role of the community, voluntary and faith sectors in supporting local based organisations to deliver services in neighbourhoods.

 

 

Shokat Lal, Assistant Chief Executive, gave a brief outline of the report and the reason for bringing the report to this Commission was to provide an update on the work undertaken so far by the Neighbourhood Working Group, over the past six months.

 

·           The work undertaken to date by the group

·           Neighbourhood Working Group established and

·           Ward Plans/Profiles have been completed for all Wards in the Borough.

·           Promotion of neighbourhood working via an established Twitter account. Further work is to be undertaken with Members on this aspect.

·           Ward Walks led by officers from the Local Government Association are taking place. A report will be produced by the LGA on the findings from the Ward Walks once they have all taken place.

·           Dedicated officer support – two and a half days officer support for every ward – this has been agreed and Members will know who their officer is

·           Further training for Members is to be identified as part of this transitional year.

·           Devolved Budgets

·           Developing a new structure alongside the Neighbourhood Strategy

 

 

Councillor Yasseen

 

·           The issue of devolved budgets has been sticking point in the development of neighbourhood working. One proposal is to have a four year devolved budget along with simplifying the budget process which will allow for improved planning of larger capital works within Wards.

·           Consistent approach by Council Officers to the model of Neighbourhood Working.

·           The aspiration is that neighbourhoods are the core and central part of the councils work lead by members of their communities.

·           This transitional year has provided much information and learning regards this new way of working.

 

Councillor McNeely asked for clarification with regards to

·           Carryover of any unspent finance from 2017 into 2018, due to the devolved budgets not being approved until six weeks into 2017.

·           Receipt of report from the LGA in relation to the Ward Walk in Boston Castle Ward.

 

With regards to finance, Finance need to be more flexible in the way they approach Neighbourhood Working overall and Shokat Lal has been tasked with resolving any anomalies in this area. With regards to capital expenditure, funding only needs to be allocated against a project for it to be classed as spent, regardless of completion of the works. 

 

Two reports have been received so far from the LGA for Sitwell and Wingfield. Zafar Saleem will liaise with the LGA for further completed reports.

 

Discussions took place around the involvement of Area Housing Panels and the associated budget within Neighbourhood Working, this role is to be clarified along with involvement of other partners and groups.

 

Support was given to the neighbourhood way of working by Councillor Wyatt and that it was working well in the Swinton Wards including working with the Area Housing Panel.

 

Councillor Wyatt asked for confirmation of what the Ward Walks were expected to achieve.

 

Councillor Yasseen outlined that there are many newer Councillors in the Council and this support was offered by the LGA to work with local councillors, if they wished to and also to share findings and experiences between different wards along with providing an independent view.

 

Councillor Wyatt queried the value of these ward walks unless members of the LGA are willing to spend much more time in the local wards. Overall it’s about sharing best practice about the borough and identifying the best practice happening in Rotherham.

 

Councillor Walsh wanted to know what the plan was for working with partner organisations, who would be responsible for building these relationships.

 

Councillor Yasseen said the idea was to redefine working relationships with organisations at borough level and then for relationships to be built locally by Ward Members, one example given was working with Parish Councils.

 

In relation to promotion of NW are the blogs live on the Council’s website and will training be provided to Members on this topic? Training will be provided in relation to social media which will be fronted by Leona Marshall the Interim Head of Communications, to look at branding for this area of work and the facilities to be available for each Ward.

 

There has been a delay in launching the individual sites and the preferred option is to go live with the websites once all Wards are at a similar level.

 

Councillor Walsh suggested that in relation to Ward Walks an element of diplomacy is adopted as in some areas as Parish Councillors are experienced in this area of working. Councillor Yasseen confirmed that it is up to the discretion of Ward Councillors if they are involved in the Ward Walks and all Parish Councillors are aware of the NW through the Parish Council Liaison Group.

 

Councillor Albiston shared her view in that the neighbourhood way of working could be seen as a postcode lottery based on the effectiveness of Councillors working in each area. It may appear unfair that some wards have better deal than others

What kind of protection is in place against this to ensure there is no detrimental impact to residents and how is this measured in terms of equality across the Borough.

 

Councillor Yasseen reported that it is based on how Members define quality as the needs of each ward are different. Consistency of approach is achieved through the work and support provided by the officers and the involvement of senior officers where appropriate.

 

Councillor Albiston is concerned that approx. £1m has been spent on adopting the neighbourhood way of working without any consideration given to other potential approaches. Another concern is that staff has been moved around without any skills assessment to what is needed and are the right people in post. A restructure is taking place currently and this issue has been identified by the NWG. The question is the level of involvement by Members.  Job descriptions and specifications will be made available in the New Year in relation to the required structure to implement NWG.

 

Councillor Jepson appreciates that this is a transitional year in this new way of working, however it has been a difficult process in creating ward profiles, knowing about the Ward Walks and setting the budget and would welcome a discussion with Cllr Yasseen outside of the meeting. The involvement of the staff in the process was welcomed.

 

Councillor Turner, the Ward walk has been completed and welcomes the chance to see the completed report, which will be circulated via Shokat Lal. Councillor Turner also welcomed support and further information regarding devolved budgets. Councillor Yasseen agreed to provide the information with Councillor Mallinder requesting that this information be shared with all Councillors.

 

Councillor Buckley reported that despite differences with other ward colleagues work was progressing well as the focus of what is being done is for the local community. The budget has already been allocated and Cllr Buckley is interested in receiving the report from the LGA about their Ward Walk. The point that this is a transitional year in this new way of working and time needs to be spent evaluating the learning points and also finding out the views of the public regarding this new approach bringing all the learning points together in a review meeting.

 

Councillor Cutts enquired if there were any external costs associated with this piece of work. The external organisation involved in this work is the LGA who are providing their support free of charge. With regards to when the Ward Walks take place, Councillor Cutts suggested that evening walks would be appropriate. This is an option also they were available for the walks to take place on Saturday evening. Councillor Yasseen pointed out that this was a learning point from the pilot project.

 

Councillor McNeely raised the point that it has taken 3 months to do 12 Ward Walk and 9 have to be completed within 2 weeks, which was considered to be a tight timescale.

 

A question was asked in relation to the NWG and can the members of that group be identified and this information shared to avoid issues of conflict of interest.

 

Zafar Saleem, the Neighbourhood Partnerships Manager confirmed thatall the walks apart from 6 have been scheduled to take place.

 

Councillor Jones did not support the abolition of the area assemblies and he welcomed the report presented to the meeting, to identify what progress had been made to date regarding NW to which he was disappointed.

 

Councillor Jones identified points which related to potentially the miss or non-communication of how the new process is being introduced across the borough with members of the public. Other points raised included:-

 

·           Communication across the project is seen as an issue, with members of the public, representatives from other partner organisations and Members.

·           The skill sets for Council Officers will need to be varied due to the skills set of the Members they are matched to work with.

·           Rotherham West has not allocated the budget devolved to it.

·           Seemingly the pilot project has worked in the four pilot areas, but the findings have not been shared

 

Councillor Yasseen offered support to Rotherham West to resolve some of the identified issues and did not share Councillor Jones’ experience of NW in this time of transition, but was happy to report back to this Committee regarding the meeting with Councillor Jones.

 

The Chair suggested that any Members with concerns about the NW to meet with Councillor Yasseen and find a solution to any queries.

 

Councillor Yasseen reiterated that this new process allows Members to work with the public at grass roots level and support work happening in local areas.

A reminder that work was being undertaken as part of the improvement journey as the previous model was not fit for purpose and there was no option other than to identify a new way of working. 100% commitment from Members will provide something beneficial for the people of Rotherham.

 

Councillor Albiston had a further question, but due to time constraints Councillor Mallinder asked if she would meet with Councillor Yasseen outside of the meeting.

 

Resolved:-  (1)  That the progress made in the first phase of the review - May 2017 to 31st October 2017, be noted.

 

(2)  That a further update report on progress on the second phase of the review 1st November 2017 to 30th April 2018.

 

(3)  That an information/learning/sharing best practice day take place in the New Year and be arranged by the officers involved in the project for all Members.