To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on the 7 October 2010.

It was noted that apologies from Brian Horner and Tony Dickens had been omitted from the previous meeting and that Sergeant Scott had been in attendance.

Subject to the amendments above, the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 October, 2010 were confirmed as a correct record.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence had been received from William Nunn, Jonathan Clemo, Chief Inspector Paul Durham, Brian Horner, Dave Seaton, Ian Clarke, Neil Stott, Jan Godfrey, Tony Trotman, Holly Gilbert, and Caroline Williams.

To note whether the Chairman proposes to accept any items of urgent business.

There was none.

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.

There were none.

Report by Richard Wills, Pride Coordinator.

(a)       Pride in Breckland Project

The Pride Co-ordinator gave an overview and update on the Pride in Breckland campaign.  Many projects and initiatives had been successfully delivered since the launch of the Project in 2008, and he gave two examples of those that had recently been achieved.

The  Pride in Breckland Green Team (Future Jobs Fund Team)

Since the team of six individuals commenced work on 19 July 2010 with the end date scheduled for 19 January 2011, two of the individuals who had been unemployed for 6 months or more had found full time employment, one being within the Electoral Services Team at Breckland, another with a Norfolk hotel and restaurant.

Pride in Breckland Youth Awards 2010

The Awards Ceremony held on 22 October had been magnificent, with one of the Award Winners, Kelsey McTaggart featured in a national newspaper.

The Pride Co-Ordinator summarised three future projects :

Pride in Breckland Awards 2011

Bob Champion, a former winner of the Grand National would be present at RAF Marham on 18 March, 2011 at the Pride in Breckland Awards which would be a huge event for Breckland.  Members were urged to vote for as many people as they could.

Heroes Welcome Project

Watton had been chosen as the town to launch this project, and if successful it might be rolled out further.  It was hoped that the entire community would give support to military services personnel.  It was explained that every solider who served in Afghanistan was likely to visit Watton as training took place locally.  The scheme encouraged local businesses to offer a warm welcome, service up grade, special acknowledgement or even a discount to any member of the Armed Forces.  Participating businesses would be identified by  a window sticker.

I Spy Spring In Breckland

The scheme was to encourage families to explore and enjoy the countryside in partnership with Wensum Valley Trust.  The title however might change due to copyright laws.

All Members were very impressed with what the Pride Co-ordinator and the Future Jobs team had achieved, and the success was felt by all to be very worthy of publicity.

The report was noted.

Presentation by Holly Gilbert, Community Health Officer.

(b)       Thetford Health Town

In the absence of Holly Gilbert, Community Health Officer, the item was deferred to the meeting being on 3 February, 2011.

Report by Adam Jackson, Service Connector Manager.

(c)        Migration Impact Funding

Adam Jackson, Service Connector Manager gave an update on the progress of the Migration Impact Funding project and planned future activities, along with overviews on the Mobile Europeans Taking Action (META) project and the ‘One Stop Bus’ project and how the two services would be developed.

Mobile Europeans Taking Action (META)

The partnership with Keystone Development Trust was working really well with consistent transaction levels for a wide range of customers on a wide range of issues. Customers now asked for members by name, so trust had been obtained.

One Stop Bus

Some villages had not taken up the initiative as well as others, so from January 2011 the project approach would change and Sporle and Beeston would join the schedule and some would be removed.  Other remote villages would be looked at.

Feedback from the customers had been very positive with some locations such as East Harling who had seen an increase in the level of customers per visit.

Internet based advertising was being promoted more heavily. 

There had been a positive response from the Brunel Industrial Estate, Thetford but no regular schedule arranged yet, it was hoped that this could happen from January; the META service was on board with this too.

Thetford Works! Project

The project was in partnership with Keystone Development Trust, Workwise and Flagship Housing.  Breckland’s key role was planning and organising work clubs, looking at all work related issues that prevented clients having the confidence in getting back into work.

It was felt that Members would be the best people to approach to help spread the word around their wards on the above projects, especially with regard to the ‘One Stop Bus’, and they were asked to contact the Service Connector Manager with any projects or services they were involved in.

The report was noted.

Report by Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer gave an overview on the background, and an update on the progress in delivering the Arts Project under the Migration Impacting Funding project.

Representatives were sought from the Board and Councillors to meet the artists and to discuss the Arts Project.  This was working in collaboration with cultural practitioners to capture the history and the diversity of the people that make up Thetford through place, its history and local communities.

A website was about to be launched by Jai Redman from the artist collective Ultimate Holding Company, which would give further details of the project.  It had been proposed that representatives would meet with Dodolab on 9^th December where they would have an opportunity to hear about their current and past work, and to discuss the project.

It was felt that other Thetford Councillors should be invited to attend the meeting along with Adrian Stasiak and Neil Stott or another Representative from Keystone.

The Arts & Development Officer was working on a variety of projects and the Thetford Museum was confirmed as having been part of the structure.

It was not known where the artists were based, except that they were not all local, but that they came with an established portfolio and an excellent reputation.

The project would be really exciting and a lot of media coverage would be attracted.

RESOLVED that 3 representatives would meet the Artists in Thetford to discuss the project, and the Artists would be invited to attend the next meeting of the Local Strategic Partnership Board on 3 February 2011.

Report by Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer explained that the purpose of the report was to propose that the Breckland Partnership continued to support and provide funding to the Pride in Breckland campaign to ensure it continued beyond March 2011.

The level of partner engagement had improved, it was recognised that the project was a real success, it had helped communities, and had a very high profile outside the area.  Everyone supported and appreciated all the work the Pride Co-Ordinator had undertaken and achieved, and he was congratulated.

The Pride in Breckland brand was not exclusive to any one organisation. Partnership knowledge could be used, and with the National Citizens Partnerships in Norfolk there would be a lot of young people wanting to get involved in projects.  The project was less expensive to run each year.

RESOLVED

(1)       To agree to fund the Pride in Breckland campaign £50,000 to provide a further year of delivery (2011/12) to include the funding of a Pride Co-Ordinator, the associated on-costs and funding for the delivery of local community projects.

(2)       To utilise the current Pride Project group to take the funding decisions in relation to the Pride in Breckland grants from April 2011.

(3)       To seek further partnership commitment in order to develop the project for the long-term and to promote the project through our respective partnerships and contacts.

(4)       To consider ways in which the Breckland Partnership can shape the future delivery of the project and to assist in delivering the Big Society agenda and empowering local communities in Breckland.

Verbal update by Debbie Bartlett, Head of Planning, Performance & Partnerships, NCC.

A verbal update was given by Debbie Bartlett, Head of Planning, Performance and Partnerships at Norfolk County Council on Norfolk’s Big Conversation. She stated that there would be significant changes for the public sector and Norfolk County Council faced challenging times ahead with savings of £155 million required to be made.

Consultations which ran till 10^th January 2011, were ongoing likewise engagement in discussions with communities, stakeholder groups and individual services.  Decisions would be taken by NCC full Council in February 2011.  It was difficult to determine the final picture until the Government settlement had been announced.

She was asked if proposals matched the efficiencies the Council had to find.  This was confirmed and meant that if one area was saved from cuts another would be hit.

She was asked if some services were ring fenced, and responded that within the document it had not been explained about the 75% of services that would remain for Norfolk County Council to undertake.

Concern was raised by Members with regard to the Youth Service proposals, as they did fantastic preventative work, and Breckland would be responding on this matter.  The Board were advised that there would be no budget available to hand this over to someone else.

Members hoped that Norfolk County Council would look to see what could be removed before actual cuts were made.  The Local Authority had a statutory duty and functions they had to meet, challenges would be presented, but it would be important to ensure partnership working was really strong and “joined up”.

A Member said longer term planning was hoped for, but the grant settlement was not known yet, so whilst in subsequent years there would be more time to think about things, there would not be for next year.  Members were advised that Norfolk County Council had set out its strategy for the next three years very clearly, but it did allow for a little bit of scope and flexibility if things changed.

Members were reassured about efficiency, and they were asked to encourage all organisations they might be part of to feed back their comments, and the Head of Planning, Performance and Partnerships invited Members to contact her direct if they had any specific questions.

She advised that NCC Cabinet would meet on 24 January 2011, and would

consider the consultation outcome, and then make recommendations to full

Council.

A Member felt that Norfolk’s Big Conversation was a very good idea.

Breckland’s full Council would meet on 16 December, where the proposals for the shared management structure would be taken forward, which would then give an idea of Breckland’s efficiency savings.

Report by Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer presented his report to update Members on the proposed delivery of the Participatory Budgeting project entitled “Your Partnership Your Decision” Year 2, as well as giving a brief overview on the background.

The Breckland Youth Council had recently self funded their own Participatory Budgeting project which followed up on the previously funded successful participatory budgeting project through the Breckland Partnership.

On 9 November, the Partnership and Tasking Co-ordination Group (PTCG) had agreed to add a further £10,000 capital funding to the project in order to increase the availability of funding in each Breckland Neighbourhood, this meant £30,000 was now available for projects across Breckland. 

Four Co-ordinators have volunteered to come back again.  Area partnerships had strongly supported the project. A Member requested that a young person be included on their project panel, and it was confirmed this was allowed.

Members were asked to locally promote the project to partners and community contacts that might benefit or be interested in applying for the available funding.  He would send Members the “Your Partnership Your Decision” application form, Guidance Notes and Poster.  The deadline for submission was 31 January 2011.

A broad range of publicity was planned, on 3 December, there would be a press release and information on Breckland Council’s website, Voice magazine, village newsletters, Wayland radio, the One Stop Bus and posters at key locations across the district, Watton had already received theirs.

The report was noted and supported.

Update on Partnership finances by Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer gave an update on partnership finances.  He advised there was a broad range of successful projects currently being delivered and there was a healthy balance.

The budget taking into account the agreement to fund the Pride Project during 2011/12 was now £38,745.

A funding announcement from the Norfolk County Strategic Partnership for funding over the 2011/12 period was expected in March 2011.

To agree items for inclusion on the next or future agenda.

Performance Reporting on Thetford Health Town, a presentation by Holly Gilbert, Community Health Officer.

Arts Project MIF – An update by a representative from the Arts Project.

The Big Conversation – Update by Debbie Bartlett, Head of Planning, Performance & Partnerships, NCC.

‘Your Partnership Your Decision’ (Year 2) – Update by Mark Fretwell.

Future Jobs Fund  – Update by Mark Fretwell and Richard Willis, Pride Co-Ordinator.

To note that the next meeting of the LSP Board will be held on 3 February 2011 at 2.00 pm in the Anglia Room, Elizabeth House, Breckland Council.

The arrangements for the next meeting on 3 February, 2011 at 2.00 p.m in the Anglia Room, Elizabeth House, Breckland Council were noted.