AGENDA ITEM NO 5(1) ACPP 26.11.2014 / ACCP-B 10.12.2014 ANGUS COMMUNITY PLANNING PARTNERSHIP PROPOSALS PAPER: LOCALITY PLANNING 1 Introduction The Angus Community Planning Partnership s Improvement Plan includes a commitment to improve planning for place arrangements at a locality level. The purpose of this paper is to set out proposals for locality planning arrangements. These proposals draw on consultation with partners and communities. The proposals contained in the paper seek to contribute to a number of outcomes including, better and more integrated planning for Angus communities based on a more holistic approach better and more effective community engagement the development and delivery of services that match local needs community and partner involvement in developing and delivering local solutions to local issues This paper proposes: The establishment of 4 Locality Partnerships which bring community planning partners and the community together at locality level in to plan for place The creation of Locality Plans in four areas of Angus to drive forward important local priorities 2. National & Local Context National and local government have ambitious and challenging visions to deliver. In 2011 the Christie Commission highlighted the need for reform in order to improve the quality of public services to better meet the needs of people and the communities they support. Our approach closely reflects the key themes and aims of the Christie Commission's report. It is built on the four pillars: a decisive shift towards prevention; greater integration of public services at a local level driven by better partnership, collaboration and effective local delivery; greater investment in the people who deliver services through enhanced workforce development and effective leadership; and a sharp focus on improving performance, through greater transparency, innovation and use of digital technology. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill was officially published in June 2014, and is currently in the consultation period prior to becoming an Act in 2015. It highlights the importance that national government is placing on the role that exists to support communities in doing things for themselves and for people having their voices heard in the planning and delivery of services. Significantly, it outlines changes to the law which will place a duty on public service providers to establish Community Planning Partnerships in each local council area. The Scottish Government expects providers to engage communities and help them have their say about services. There is an expectation that engagement with communities and community
organisations will be take place at all stages of service planning, design and delivery. This increased community involvement and influence will help to ensure that communities are better designed to meet the needs of local people. While much of this policy is not new and has been directing and influencing Angus Community Planning Partnership and individual partner agency policy and practice for some time, there is a need for further development and specifically a greater emphasis on developing joint approaches to planning and delivery at more local levels than has been the case until now. Angus Community Planning Partnership: The Angus Community Planning Partnership s Improvement Plan outlines four areas for improvement. This includes a commitment to improve planning for place, with key tasks to redesign community planning across localities in terms of economic, social and physical factors. In order to achieve this, new place planning arrangements are required which over time will lead to better integrated planning functions including community planning (the SOA), development planning and local housing strategy. This approach to improvement aligns with the four pillars of public service reform, particularly that of local integration and partnership. Community Planning Partners: A number of community planning partners are already developing approaches to service design and delivery which place greater emphasis on locality and community, including the: Creation of single points of contact by Voluntary Action Angus, the Third Sector Interface development of local Policing models development of locality models by the Angus Health and Social Care Integration Partnership Angus Council: As outlined in the Angus Council Plan 2014-17, and the Communities Directorate Improvement plan, the council is committed to the development of a new area based approach to the planning and delivery of services, offering communities a better way of working with the Council and with partners, in order to develop plans that focus on the economic, social and physical aspects of their areas. This ambitious vision aims to build services around people and communities. It takes service user experiences as the starting point for the design of local public services. Equal partnership and collaboration sit at the core of these ambitions. Specific priorities over the period of the Council Plan are: the continued development of area based service delivery in the four identified areas of Arbroath, Brechin/Montrose, Carnoustie/Monifieth/Sidlaws and Forfar/Kirriemuir, changes to operational services associated with the integration of health and social care and development of an area based approach to some services for children, housing, planning and community planning. Supporting Angus Community Planning Partnership ambitions on getting it right with communities, with an emphasis on planning for place Early steps towards achieving these aims include: The creation of a Planning and Place service bringing together housing, development and community planning Redesign of the Community Planning Service, Strategic Housing and Development Planning Services Alignment of housing and planning staff resources into locality teams Establishment of a Communities team which is organised on a locality basis with teams based in the four areas identified above. Within the teams there are 5 members of staff with a specific remit to support and focus on planning for place activities. Public consultation in April and May 2014 to gather the views of a range of stakeholders on arrangements for planning for place within localities. Local community organisations, including Community Councils and Area Partnerships participated in the consultation as well as
members of the public partners and elected members. The feedback from the consultation has been used to inform the proposals contained within this paper. (Ref: Information Report 303/14 Schedule 11) Beyond the very specific initiatives that have been progressed in relation to the development of planning for place at a local level the work that the Council has undertaken to restructure and transform its services has been designed to support a one Council approach to the planning and delivery of services, breaking down internal silos and promoting more holistic approaches. New structures have been created to foster more integrated working and there has been significant investment in leadership and communication with staff to promote the Council s ambition to be one Council which contribute to an Angus where: citizens feel involved people want to live, work or visit ambition is high partnership working flourishes Questions Do you still agree that we need a locality approach? 3. Community Engagement and Empowerment: The key building block for effective place planning at locality level will be a sound understanding of people and place. Effective community engagement will be central to developing and maintaining this understanding. The Angus Community Planning Partnership has actively recognised the importance of working with communities for some time and has undertaken a range of work to help it develop its practice in this area including: Endorsing the National Standards for Community Engagement and encouraging partners to use them as a tool for planning and managing community engagement activity. Regularly auditing community engagement activity over a number of years and providing support and encouragement to partners to develop and improve their practice Establishing a cross-cutting Working with Communities Group to give greater emphasis to this area of work within the Partnership s structure and better coordinate activity, support the development of common values and approaches and better align community engagement and capacity building resources Devoting significant time within Partnership meetings to consideration of approaches to working with communities Supporting the development of Civic Health approaches in some Angus Communities Developing an outline framework for the training and development of staff who have a role in engaging with communities to support the design and delivery of services Considering the guidance on community learning and development issued to community planning partnerships by the Scottish Government in 2012, which has now been underpinned by a regulation which places a duty on the Council to prepare a three year plan for community learning and development, in close collaboration with communities and community planning partners
Angus Council has an agreed Consultation and Engagement Strategy that encompasses a range of methods that the Council will use to engage with Angus communities. Presently, the majority of consultations undertaken by the Council are publicised on the Have Your Say section of the council s website, and the council operates a Citizen s Panel. However, feedback from the planning for place consultation conducted earlier in the year clearly indicates that much more needs to be done by the council and its partners to improve the quality and effectiveness of community engagement activity. It needs to be more fundamental to the way in which services are planned to reflect community needs. The Council and its partners need to be more creative in their approach to community involvement and engagement, utilising a greater variety of approaches which maximise opportunities for local people to participate, be heard and have influence. A ladder of community participation/engagement (figure 1) should form the framework for engaging with communities whereby a range of strategies are utilised, to reflect the purpose of the engagement and the type of engagement required. The guiding principles should be to use approaches appropriate to communities working from the premise that communities are partners in the process of public service design and delivery. Figure 1. Within this framework, there will be a range of community engagement activity extending from informing communities on matters that affect them to empowering community organisations to deliver services and initiatives, through opportunities such as community asset transfer and new and emerging models of service delivery. The approach outlined in this proposal recognises the central role of communities in the design and delivery of services. Any engagement/empowerment strategy will need to be underpinned by a range of learning and development activity that enables all community members to participate. This
engagement activity should be rooted in the National Standards for Community Engagement and their underpinning values and principles of empowerment, participation, inclusion, self-determination and partnership. Examples of methods and approaches which public service providers could use to improve their engagement practice include: listening surveys, world café events, social media, pop up events, drop in sessions focus groups, walkabouts, internet polls, capturing views whilst going about every day business, developing new structures for communities to be involved in planning. A specific addition to the range of engagement activity in Angus will be the use of charrettes or similar large scale stakeholder engagement events. A charrette is an interactive design process that normally runs over a few days, in which stakeholders work directly with a specialised design team to create a specific community vision. Charrettes are normally linked to Development Planning, but can be adapted to suit community needs and circumstances. The wide involvement will include community councils, local area partnerships and other key community and voluntary organisations, as well as individuals. This proposal is to conduct a charrette exercise- or variation of the model -in each of the localities on a rolling programme over the next three years in order to generate outputs that will inform all aspects of locality planning, but with a particular focus on physical and land use planning. They will inform the next iteration of the Angus Local Development Plan. Resources are available in the current financial year to run charrettes in Brechin and Carnoustie. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/built-environment/aandp/projects/ssci/mainstreaming Questions Have we got this right? What else needs to be captured? 4. Locality Planning In order to achieve improvements in planning for place at a local level and plan for communities in a more holistic way it will be necessary to provide strong, clear leadership and create new structures that underpin the planning process. These will facilitate the delivery of improved outcomes for communities and enable new ways of planning and delivering services. The current practice of local public services focussing on individual service priorities, rather than communities, individuals and place, often leads to failure to deliver the outcomes that communities both need and expect. The proposals which follow are designed to promote and support a more connected approach to planning with and for communities. They will challenge services and agencies to plan and work together more effectively for the benefit of the communities they serve. A wide range of community led organisations such as community councils and area partnerships already exist in communities and contribute significantly to service design and delivery. It is important to ensure that any new planning for place proposals recognise and build on what is already working well at a local level. These proposals seek to enhance community participation and involvement in decision making and are not intended to replace existing community led organisations. Strong community organisations will be essential to effective place planning and delivery. Locality Plans: In order to create greater strategic focus and direction across partners at locality level it is proposed that a locality plan is created for each of the four localities identified above. Initial plans should be in place by April 2016. These locality plans should focus on high level priorities and will need to be based on a sound understanding of place developed through the analysis of data and effective engagement with communities.
Locality Plans are not intended to replace individual agency plans or more operational partnership activity. The function of the locality plan is to provide local strategic direction and act as a key driver for delivering a more integrated approach to planning and service delivery at locality level. They should inform and be informed by agency plans and performance. Locality plans will need to reflect the SOA and in the longer term be used to inform, and help shape housing, social, economic and development planning. To provide the strategic direction required, locality plans will need to include: A long term vision for localities, informed by both local priorities and wider strategic ambitions captured in the Single Outcome Agreement An assessment of community needs and assets, arrived at through analysis of hard and soft data A limited number of high level priorities for the locality A limited number of strategic actions designed to deliver against the priorities Questions What are your views on Locality Plans? Do we need Locality Plans? What should they focus on? (e.g. top five priorities identified locally; the three cross cutting priorities in the SOA; the themes included in the SOA; something else?) 5. Locality Partnerships In order to drive forward planning at locality level new structures will be required. The Planning for Place consultation exercise asked people to suggest structures that would support more effective planning for place. Respondents emphasised the importance of partnership between the council, its partners and a broad cross section of the local community. They also highlighted the need for buy in from all partners and a commitment to action and implementation. The consultation underlined the importance of collaboration across services and partners. The involvement of elected members is critical and will be central to effective place planning. Councillors are close to their communities and already focus clearly on community priorities. They act as champions for their constituencies inside the Council, but also play an important role as champions of Angus. Elected Members will have a key role to play in promoting new approaches to planning for place both locally and in their Angus wide roles. They bring a wider perspective to locality thinking and planning, whilst also representing local constituents and providing democratic accountability. Building on feedback from the consultation, and an understanding of the current community planning context it is proposed that Locality partnerships be created in each of the four locality areas identified as the increasing focus for service planning and delivery. These will be multi-agency groups which meet on a limited number of occasions per year to set direction and monitor progress towards the achievement of high level vision and priorities. The proposed terms of reference for Locality Partnerships are outlined in appendix 1.
Locality Partnership Membership Housing Assocs. Angus Health and Social Care Integration Partnership SEPA Business Reps Elected Members DWP Police Scotland D & A college Council representatives Local partnerships /community umbrella bodies School cluster chairs Locality Partnership Figure 2 example of membership partners NHS Tayside Scottish Fire & Rescue Community councils Third & Voluntary Sector These partnerships should be structured to act as an alliance of leaders across communities and the third, private and public sectors, which reflects the collaborative nature of integrated place planning. Locality partnership members will act as champions for place planning and the agreed local priorities. All members of partnerships will be leaders. This will ensure that they can deliver results and are truly focussed on what matters in the locality. The Partnerships themselves will need to be well led. Each of the four locality partnerships will require leads that are in a position and have the capacity to provide the leadership required Possible options for leadership include: Each Locality Partnership appoints a Lead from within its membership The ACPP appoints a lead officer for each partnership Angus Council Executive directors each act as a lead officer for a locality partnership Elected members nominate one member on behalf of the multi-member ward Volunteers are sought from partner agencies In summary, the proposal for Locality Partnerships is: To establish a multi-agency partnership in each of four Angus Localities (See Figure 2.) Membership of locality partnerships will consist of a wide range of community planning partners, as detailed in figure 1. membership will be based on equity each partnership will have an identified lead
The Partnerships will focus their attention on a limited number of agreed priorities. Their role will be to galvanise all partner agencies to contribute to the achievement of these priorities through collaborative planning and action. Partnership business will be conducted in a manner that takes account of the capacity of all partners. Partnerships will be empowered to establish smaller work stream groups as necessary Questions What are your views on Locality Partnerships? Do we need them? Is the model right? What are your views on the leadership of locality partnerships? Is there a preferred option? Is the proposed membership right?
Appendix 1 Locality Partnership Proposed Terms of Reference Name The Partnership shall be known as the (locality) Locality Partnership Frequency of Meetings The Locality Partnerships will meet four times per year Remit Identify and agree priorities for that locality, through dialogue with communities and partners develop, nurture and sustain a long term vision for the locality lead the development, implementation and management of an holistic locality plan focussed on delivering better outcomes for individuals and the community, based on evidence ensure arrangements are in place which facilitate the process of joint planning and delivery within the locality seek to use the collective resources of partners effectively to ensure intended outcomes are delivered, aligning and pooling resources where appropriate Share information/data report to the Angus Community Planning Partnership on progress CHAIRING AND SECRETARIAL SUPPORT The Lead Officer/Chair shall chair the Partnership, and Angus Council shall provide secretariat support. COMMITMENT TO PARTNERSHIP All members of the Partnership shall seek to achieve the collective objective by means of open, effective and efficient partnership work. They will be expected to sign up formally to a roles and responsibility document that defines their commitment.
Appendix 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION & GLOSSARY Reference is made to Reports: no 155/14 Angus Council Plan 2014-2017, Health & Social Care Integration, ACCP Improvement Plan, no14/133 Community Engagement, 87/13 Review of Angus Community Planning Partnership Effectiveness-Structure, and the Scottish Government Community Empowerment Bill http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/bills/77926.aspx), Angus Community Plan & Single Outcome Agreement 2013-2016. The Christie Commission http://www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2011/09/21104740/1 National Standards of Community Engagement: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/resource/doc/94257/0084550.pdf Voice (Visioning Outcomes in Community Engagement) is a tool to support effective engagement. The Voice framework has been developed by the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) with the support of the Scottish Government and the free online toolkit provides a resource to assist with the planning and evaluation of community engagement activity. http://www.scdc.org.uk/what/voice/